William Johnson and the Unfulfilled Prophecy
by ChzBred
Summary: An old, mysterious and powerful witch who wants nothing more than to create mass genocide for non-magic beings and mudbloods to help cleanse the wizarding world, has chosen an apprentice, Warren Duffey to help fill out her deeds. Due to Warren finding a prophecy, they learn that one person must die in order for the duo to commit their plan. Will Johnson. Now Will must endure his


Will Johnson, Dylan Cabe, and Dakota Cabe now present to you Year One at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry:

William Johnson and the Unfulfilled Prophecy

Enjoy!

Collective Thoughts -

I must've scoured that Hall a thousand times. Sure, it was forbidden and hadn't been opened in a year, but what are ya gonna do?

I came across hundreds upon hundreds of those broken balls, not one pertaining to what I needed. I mean, I respect Voldy, but I mean did he really have to trash the whole thing? Come on… So, I did what I did best. I wasted my time on trying to save the world. I looked and looked, upon the isles and columns of that room, before something truly life-changing happened. At the end of the last, dim blue column, stood an unbroken, gleaming, milky crystal ball. Could it have been mine? The old hag who made it told me it'd be unscathed. I dashed over to the column and looked directly at the white, liquidy orb. It was standing on a small stand and it gleamed bright. I squinted into it, and on the weathered tag it read sure enough my name. But, something caught my gaze. Another name. I looked down, and sure enough there it was:

William Johnson.

Are you kidding me? Like, are you actually kidding me? All I want is the world in my hand, and I can't have that? There has to be somebody else involved too? I did not wait or contemplate. I picked up the glass orb. And then it spoke, a feeble, but loud woman's voice that echoed through the blue corridors.

At the dawn of the eighth month, the boy who will attempt will enter.

The duchess of evil will strike him dead when he is most weak.

The boy shall gain strength as he tries,

The follower of the old will bring anew,

The knees quake.

As the seventeenth year rises, all will be ended.

Excellent. No seriously, this is great. I mean, 'evil' is kind of a harsh word, but I mean, oh well. So this kid, he's gotta die. Just one? No huge army? Should be easy.

I stuffed the orb in my robes and before I could reach the doors to the exit, it creeped open, and there stood a few Aurors. They looked scared. Inexperienced. They all had their wands raised, and I knew that I'd be facing serious time in Azkaban if I got captured, so before I Apparated, I raised my own wand and did what I loved doing.

I killed them dead.

The Boy It Chose -

It was darkening. Matthew and Kim Johnson sat in their common looking house on 205 Primrose Road in suburban Georgia, nursing their newborn son in their lamp-lit, dim living room. Kim cradled the infant on the large blue loveseat, listening to the harsh rain pound against the roof and glass windows. It was hardly a place where anything exciting would happen.

"Do you think… he'll be like you, Matt? Different?" She said, concerned.

"If he is, I'll love him just the same." the lanky man said, sitting on the couch next to his wife.

The woman wasn't too keen on her husband's well -kept secret he hid from the world, being rather afraid of the place he had come from.

The rain pounded harder, along with a bright, blue lightning strike from outside, that sounded oddly close. This made the lamps flicker and the house shake.

"I don't want him to go. I don't want him to be a part of that. It's too dangerous…" she whispered, barely audible over all of the outside noise.

"Honey, I highly doubt that--" Matt started, interrupted by a soft knock on the front door. He got up, sighing from who could it could possibly be at this time of night, and walked to the door and pulled it open with a creak.

In the old doorway stood a short, pudgy old man, his chin covered with a tangled, bushy black beard that hit the floor. He wore a pair of half-moon spectacles, with very large green eyes behind them, next to tiny crinkles near his lids. He had an abnormally bald head, the dim lamps shone upon it, casting a bright shine. He also wore an odd, flowing red cloak, with vibrant patterns fixed upon the sleeves that covered his hands. Dripping wet with rain water, he walked in the doorway, and greeted the man.

"Hello, Matthew." He said with a light voice, having a barely visible smile under his his mane.

"Professor Fontaine, It's good to see you! What are you doing here?" Matt said back, startled by his sudden arrival. The last time he had seen the old man was when he was in school, long ago. Kim looked towards the old man, confused and a little uneasy, still holding the newborn to her chest, tight.

"I'm terribly sorry, for coming at a...rather harsh night," He said, sorrow in his tone, looking down at his awfully soggy robes. "But I've arrived, bearing hard news. I thought I'd let you know."

Matt looked fearful, but invited old man to sit down. He made his way, trailing water onto the carpet, to the other loveseat across from Kim, still rocking the sleeping creature, not taking her eyes of the strange-looking man. Matt sat down next to his wife, eager and awaiting the old man to speak.

"The MACUSA has dug up a bit of helpful dirt on the dark wizard case you've been leading." He said.

"You mean that You-Know-Who worshipper? The one who was caught in rambling in the Ministry? I thought that was just some kid, playing pranks." Matt replied, not looking forward to what was coming next, shifting in the couch as he did so.

"That's what we thought too, but it seems much bigger than that. You see, that kid, is dangerous, they've reported that he's insane, an Azkaban escapee. Some other aurors discovered some evidence from one of his hideouts. Books discussing details of what You-Know-Who did, and his… well, history, with the Potters." He said sternly, "I fear he wants to replicate what He did, start over, and this time, be successful."

"Why are you telling me this? Why not the head chief over at the office or the president?" Matt demanded, staring blankly at the man's eyes, while Kim shook, nervous.

"I fear… He plans, to target your own son… when he was in the Ministry, he was in the Hall of Prophecies." He whispered, narrowing his eyes towards the boy.

Kim rocked harder, fearful.

"Why, why him?" Matt said, raising his voice in worry. "What has Will got to do with any of this?"

"The man… he… told us." He said, still keeping his green eyes on the baby. "We received the letter this morning, no reason, no motive."

Kim began to cry harshly, sobbing into the father's shoulder. He looked at the boy then back at Fontaine. "Let me see…" he said softly.

She handed him a scrolled up piece of parchment from her carry bag. He unrolled the dirty parchment:

The Prophecy has spoken. In order to complete Voldemort's work, I must kill the obstacle that has been put in my way. Matthew and Kimberly Johnson, your newborn son is part of the forsaken Prophecy, he must be killed in order for me to plunge this world into Blood-Purity and allow me to finish what He started. I'm deeply sorry, please, do not take it personally. With love,

-W.D.

The two terrified parents sat, sweating and staring at the parchment, too terrified to speak. "I don't think this is any more than an empty threat, and he may still attend the school--" Fontaine was interrupted by the man leaving his place from the couch and returning from the other room with a raincoat on. "Not my son, professor. If he means what he says, I can't let it come true. I'm going to have to handle this at the office." He kissed his wife and son goodbye and headed for work into the pouring rainstorm, closing the door with a large slam that shook the small house once again.

"Your boy is stronger than you think, Kim." Fontaine whispered, leaning in close."I can feel it. It's all going to be okay." Kim winced, dried her wet eyes then formed a tight embrace with the tall man and she prayed that this nightmare would soon resolve itself.

Chapter 1- Revelation On Primrose

It was a rather foggy morning on the third of August on 205 Primrose Road in suburban Georgia. Inside this particular, common looking house, in the upstairs bedroom lie a ten, soon to be eleven year old boy. He slept on his small bed against the wall, his overly skinny frame twisting and turning over the covers and blankets trying to find the perfect position to continue his dreams; all the while messing up his short, sandy brown hair even more than it already was. Upon accepting the fact that he was not going to be able to sleep peacefully once more, he opened his bright, vibrant blue eyes and let out a small groan. He sat up, groggy and dazed from the speed at which he did it, and started to search for his square rimmed glasses, which was quite a bit difficult, seeing as he was blind without them.

His eyes then wandered outside his window, looking at the morning sun breaking through the trees.

Getting up from his small bed, he walked, limping slightly as his foot had gone half to sleep, to his desk and moved his hands around through the dark for his specs. Finding them with relative ease, he placed them on his very large nose and was very pleased at seeing his room clearly instead of the opposite. His room wasn't the cleanest, but neither was he. Socks strewn on the carpet floor, kicked off in sleep, books littered his desk next to a laptop and a moderately large television sat in the center of the wall. He walked through the long room that took up the entire upstairs, something that the boy particularly liked, as being alone seemed like a necessity every once in awhile. Heading downstairs, still half-asleep, he tripped down a few stairs, balancing himself at the bottom. He peeked into his mother's room, to see if she was still asleep. Squinting through the door crack, he saw that the sheets were thrown and pillows were rumpled, it was obvious she had left the bed, and his father must 've been at work. He hurriedly continued into a small jog as he entered the small kitchen and stepped on the tiled floor.

Before looking through the fridge and cabinets for an early snack like he usually did, he noticed a small, white envelope with a bright gold seal lying on the marble counter. Thinking that this wasn't an ordinary light bill, he picked it up with his small hands and studied it closely, and was immediately startled at the address on the envelope:

To: Mr. William T. Johnson

205 Primrose Road

The Upstairs Bedroom

While understandably more confused than he could've been, he barely had anytime to process this as his mother, a small, plump, short haired woman, snatched away the letter rather aggressively, and stuffed it in the garbage not so subtly. She pushed her brown bangs out of her face while giving a rather harsh stare at the young boy.

"What was that for? It was to me." He asked innocently.

"It's spam, no-good junk mail, that's all." She said whilst pulling out pans preparing for breakfast from the nearby cabinet.

"You didn't even open it," he said disappointed. "We could've at least read it."

"Please, don't worry about it, okay? We've still got to get everything ready for your party today."She said smiling with much love in her tone, placing fresh, wonderful smelling pancakes on the table. "Happy Birthday, Will. Your father should arrive soon."

Will didn't see his father much, he was always told that it was work business.

Not sure of the actual reason behind his absences, there hadn't been a birthday party that his father missed.

An hour passed slowly, with Will deciding to finish his pancakes and read his book to pass the time.

And with the swing of the front door, a lanky, unusually tall man with a large nose and a scar on his eye, with his signature baseball cap upon his head, a trimmed goatee, and a baggy shirt and blue jeans carrying a long, wrapped present in his arms walked through. Sitting the gift on the large living room couch, as he finished giving his wife a kiss and embrace, he spoke:

"Happy Birthday, Will!"

"Thanks, dad!" Will shouted, wrapping his arms around his father's waist with ease, ecstatic. "I missed you..."

"I missed you too, son. How was fifth grade?"

"Oh, y'know, same as usual, no friends, bullied a whole lot."

Will huffed. "Oh well that's good!" His father said, while Will looked at him puzzlingly. "You're going to a new school this year, you got your letter right?"

A tiny epiphany happened in the young boys head. The whole room had gone silent with only the chirping of birds outside the open window in the kitchen. Slowly, their eyes were laid upon Will's mother. She gazed back at her husband, a fury lit in her eyes. His mother and father stood very still, looking at each other with a very intense feel about them, as if having a conversation with only their eyes. Will looked back and forth too confused to speak and finally, after what felt like a lifetime, mustered up the courage to speak. "What's going on? Why are you guys acting so weird?" He said, a little louder than he should've. The next hour or four were the awkwardest Will had ever witnessed.

Throughout out the night his parents were silent towards one another, each of them giving the same stare to the other. This isn't exactly what Will had hoped for on his own birthday, but decided staying silent was the best option, but increasingly across the evening the heat in his body built, and the temper in his very soul was rising at an alarming rate. He hated the fact that his family wasn't getting along, he hated the fact that they were being so stubborn. And he certainly hated the fact that they weren't acting like they usually were.

He sat at the small, marble kitchen table, having to change positions in the rickety old chair as his impatience increased.

Later, they were beginning to open presents, sitting around the living room table with comfortable cool air blowing above from a small ceiling fan on the roof, with the giant love seats and couches in a circle. Will wasn't ever excited about the whole opening gifts ordeal,(He disliked people buying things only for him.) When they had finally finished, Will thought he had received a relatively good haul. His mother had given him a new pair of glasses, that which were square and large, and of the color black. Will loved these new pair of specs, and it made him almost forget that his parents were acting like small children with their bickering. That is, until his father gave Will the long, strange-looking present he had carried in earlier. His father handed it to him last, and very carefully whilst he did it.

Will examined it carefully, still looking quite perplexed at the object, quickly but safely, he opened the gift to find a dirty, oak wood, sweeping broom, and in very small, engraved gold letters on the end, read:

Crickety Comet.

Will wasn't the one to be ungrateful, but was understandably very confused at what he saw in front of him. His mother, however, had a rather different reaction. Her face had turned a bright red color that resembled a ripe tomato, immediately stomping towards the cleaning object and taking it from sight into her nearby room. She returned still the same bright color and raised her voice towards Will's father loudly.

"Absolutely not, Matt! He is not inheriting this... this thing!" She bellowed, making Will wince on the enunciation of each syllable.

"And why not? He needs to know about this stuff! He deserves this!" His father retorted, his temper rising as well. Will looked on, not knowing how to react to the sudden argument. Will was perplexed as to what they were yelling about and his patience, that had been decreasing ever since his father had brought up the letter, was reaching its limit. He watched as his parents stood, both full of rage, their obnoxiously loud comebacks piercing his mind and brain, he winced his eyes, holding them shut very tight. He had never before seen his own parents act like this, it was getting to him, not only was the argument getting serious, it was tampering with his parent's relationship, and to him, that drew the line.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! You both stop it right now! I've had enough! It's my birthday and you're going to act like this!?" Will roared in rage, surprised at hearing his voice this deep and menacing. As soon as he did this, a large crash uttered around the house, making the loud sound ring in his ears. All heads turned. His mother looked at him, not with anger, but with fear, as behind Will, sat a broken ceiling fan, glass shattered on the carpet floor, and the fixture rolling about, with the wooden wings cracked and smashed on the ground. He looked around him, terrified. His father looked surprisingly calm with it, his mother exactly the opposite.

"W-what did I just do?!" Will asked, fear wavering in his voice.

No answer was given, as his mother took it upon herself to clean the mess that was created in the middle of the living floor room and her barking orders towards his father to comfort Will, placing him on his small bed and telling him it would be okay.

Over the next half hour, Will sat on his small bed, curled in fetal position, attempting to read one of his books. He must've attempted at reading the book more times than he could count, but every time he tried starting a page, the words jumbled together, his thoughts clouding his mind. How did that fan fall like that? Was it a coincidence? Or was he the cause of it? His mind then traveled to the letter. What was in that envelope? Why hadn't his mother wanted him to see it? Lastly, his final thoughts were on the old broom he was given earlier. Was that a joke? Was there some secret behind it? His mother had said something about inheriting it...

He sat, looking around the long bedroom, thinking about these strange and fearful moments and wondering what his family were conversing about downstairs.

After some time had passed, His father spoke up: "Kim, into the dining room, Will," he said, calling upstairs, "Come with us." Looking up from his book, his heart started pounding out of his chest, he hobbled his way difficulty down the stairs. He followed his mother and father into the other room. As he walked, his thoughts ran wild. Had he done something wrong? Was he about to get a major punishment for breaking the fan? It's not like he meant to. This seemed like a little too much in his opinion. They led him into the dining room and told him to sit down in one of the chairs that lined the long dinner table. He did what he was told, and tried to quiet his rapid heartbeat that sounded so loud he could hear it. He was starting to sweat a bit, and the bright chandelier that hung from the ceiling didn't help him cool it off at all. He had never seen his mother this strict and serious before, she was usually so positive and upbeat.

Finally, his she spoke. "Will, I've been... keeping some secrets from you for a while. I should've told you sooner, but..." She trailed off and she sat down in a chair across the table from the boy. Will was still nervous, but his father finished. "You're mother, is normal, but, you and I, we're not. We have abilities, er...magical abilities." His mother started to weep quietly. "Will, you're special. He paused. You're a wizard."

"I'm a what!?"

"A wizard. And so am I. There's a whole land out there, schools, cities."

Will took it as a joke. His mother looked at him perplexed, as if she couldn't believe his reaction to this news. He laughed until his lungs hurt. Snorting and banging his hand on the table, thinking it was a silly joke from his parents for his birthday. It wasn't until his father pulled what looked like an abnormally large stick from his jeans pocket, with slight ease as to how loose it was, and muttered two words while waving it in a pattern.

"Accio, Letter."

What sounded like a large gust of wind flowing right through the room passed. Only a few seconds later, the letter with the bright gold seal that Will's mother previously had thrown away a few hours ago soared through thin air from the doorway. It flew past Will, who was absolutely appalled at the sight. The seal gleamed majestically as the chandelier light reflected against it. He watched the letter, unblinking, land right into his father's long fingers. His father's large blue eyes looked at the letter with a stare that seemed like a he had been waiting for this moment for a long time. He then handed the letter to Will's mother and she stared at it with a mix of what looked to be pride and worry. She handed it to the small boy. "I didn't want you to turn out like your father. That's why he's never around, he's different. He does different stuff than what we do. I never wanted you to know, it's too dangerous."

She narrowed her watery blue eyes towards the letter. "But you deserve to be told. It's your choice." She slid the letter across the table with a shaking hand as Will's heart beat faster than ever and his breaths were clumsy, disorganized, and in a quick pattern. There he sat, glaring at the sealed envelope, it's bright taped seal teasing and seducing him to break it open, to uncover the secrets inside. "Open it." His father said sternly. Will, struggling with the cuffs of his oversized sweater, took his small fingers and slowly unpackaged the letter that had been hidden inside. Will pushed up his new large glasses and with a worried look from his mother, read the formal looking passage that was dirty and stained yellow, and seemed to bizarrely been written in very sloppy handwriting with fresh ink.

Dear Mr. Johnson,

We are delighted to inform you that you have been accepted into the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. All wizards, at age eleven are invited to this establishment to further develop your unique skills in hopes of making the future brighter for the rest of the wizarding world and community. Enclosed you will find a schedule of the classes that you will be taking and the supplies needed or accepted for these classes and activities. We hope to see you here on the first of September, and hope your first year is magical! If you have any further questions, please send an owl immediately. Thank you!

Yours truly, Headmaster Agilbert Fontaine.

(Order of Merlin, Head Deputy of Magical Cooperation, Duelist Leader of International Battles, Leader of House-Elf Rights Front, and President of Magical Law Acceptance at MACUSA.

Will looked up from the letter and didn't really know what to think. His mind rushed to one million conclusions at once. Who was this "Agilbert"? Did they have a secret nocturnal creature he wasn't aware of? His father had delivered this life-changing information to him so fast, and it certainly didn't help that Will was so young and to be told this all of a sudden was very shocking to say the very least. He still couldn't believe that he just saw an envelope float through midair like that, and he knew very well that he was not prepared for whatever else that stick could do. This wasn't to say that he wasn't excited about this news either, he just hadn't collected his thoughts very well, and he felt like he needed to clarify some things with his parents first. He read the letter twice through and as he looked up about to unload a thousand questions upon the both of his parents he saw his mother and father looking at him longingly. His father scratched his beard as if thinking about something, and his mother had both of her hands on her mouth and nose, her eyes still full with tears. "There's much more than just this, Will. We've kept so much from you, and it's about time you knew." His father said, getting up from one of the chairs and re-adjusting his cap. "Come with me."

Will obliged, but not before he ran to his mother and gave her a comforting embrace that made her quiet her sobs. It seemed to him that she was slowly, but surely getting over this bizarre revelation. They both then followed back into the living room. As Will walked in the living room, he began to feel a bit dizzy, clumsily attempting to walk in a straight line, thinking that this whole ordeal was a dream. He was scared, nervous. What was this 'wizard school'? How had his dad performed that supernatural feat? How had he made that ceiling fan crash? What was he about to go into?

As he hobbled into the living room he was relieved to see that the fan from earlier was picked up with only a few splinters littered on the carpet.

"Look son," his father said, sitting on the couch. "This school's first day is September first. We'll give this whole thing to you gradually, and when the time comes, we'll pick up your supplies and cross that bridge, okay?"

Will nodded.

The next few weeks leading up to the special day went by exceptionally quick. Over this period of time, and with great difficulty, Will learnt a small deal from his father. He learned about the bare minimum of this new world that was recently presented to him. All he was told by his father was that his mother was indeed not a wizard, the ceiling fan incident was normal, as this is the power within attempting to be let out, and that Will would "Find out everything in time.", whatever the heck that meant. Will didn't want to admit it, but he was nervous, and was feeling a bit more sad than he thought he would be about leaving his old school. He hadn't many friends, but he was used to it. This new life that he was about to lead, was more foreboding than anyone could realize.

Chapter 2 - A Trip To Remember

As the first of September approached, Will had an average understanding of this mysterious, fleeting world he'd been taught about by his father. At this point he wasn't much versed in the whole situation, and as the date creeped up,he was more and more excited of going to this prestigious school rather than melancholy and depressed.

On the morning of the thirty-first of August, Will slept in the same ruddy room on the same small bed that he had done everyday. He slept soundly and snored loudly enough that the sounds echoed off the walls. He awoke earlier than he would've wanted and, seeing that attempting to go back to sleep would take much more effort than he was willing to give, he settled for getting out of bed instead. He was a bit dysfunctional, like he usually was, but the thought of receiving his school supplies today set him off. This thought suddenly jolted his body and mind with full energy, as he must've jumped about four steps at the bottom. He skipped through the house on his way to the laundry room. Not terribly worried about his appearance, he picked out an oversized hoodie with tan pants.

After showering, he waltzed into the living room, still visualizing the thoughts of the new journey on which he was about to embark. He found his mother and father waiting on the oversized love seat, awaiting the young child. His mother, to his surprise looked much more distraught and slightly less calm than the night before, and his father, looking more or less the same, was prepared and ready to go.

After another hour or so, Will was all set with supplies list in hand, and had a ball of sizzling excitement inside him, waiting to burst. His mother and father rushed him to no end, constantly raising their voices telling him to hurry it up. After brushing his teeth and combing his hair, he grabbed his supplies list and began to step out the door. "C'mon, you guys! Let's go!" He shouted, gleaming. His mother looked at him, her eyes welling up with tears again.

"My sweet boy..." She sobbed, embracing Will tightly.

"Mom, aren't you coming with us?" He asked, confused as to why she was so upset still.

"No, I'm staying here, no room for people with no magic...Be good, do good, and have a good time! And write me! Please! I love you!"

Will told goodbye to his mother and departed the house with his father. They walked into the dewy front lawn. His father then stood in the middle of the giant patch of greenery. He waited, pulled out the large stick out of his jeans pocket, and said the familiar word he had heard before come from his father's lips: "Accio, Broomstick!"

Will felt like snorting with laughter, but judging from what happened when he had done the same thing weeks ago, he decided on not doing so. Then, they sat in silence, listening to the small robins chirping and the light wind knock leaves from the autumn trees, making sunlight peek through them. All of a sudden, as if from nowhere, a dirty, old broomstick flew from the house door at a high speed that would make a fighter jet jealous. It almost made Will's mother topple over. Will immediately cocked his head towards the incoming object and saw that it landed in his father's hands with not even a blink come from him.

This was the same broom that was presented to Will on his birthday a few weeks ago. The impact of the broom when it landed in his palm made the leaves blow all over and Will could've sworn it had made a few trees shake as well. Will's mother called from the doorway waving them off. "Please, Matt! Be careful with him!! You know how those things can make you sick, and don't go too fast, be easy, okay??" She cried, with much concern in her voice. "Dad, what exactly... are we about to do with that...thing?" Will asked while turning back to mom, returning the wave. "This 'thing' is yours. I used it in school on the Quadpot team. I was a good athlete, y'know!" He said as he fiddled with the raggedy object and ignoring Will's mother. Tired of asking more questions, Will nodded along. "Alright, hop on!"

"Excuse me?"

His father had fixed the broom to where it was fixed, still and stiff as a board in seemingly thin air. His father then wrapped his leg over it and sat on it as if the broom was able to carry much more than just a dustpan.

"Get on or we'll hit rush hour! Let's go!"

Excitedly but nervously, Will carefully moved his leg over the broom, adjusting himself slightly to get more comfortable. He and his father looked back at his mother, still waving. Not too long after he was situated, his father shouted: "Hold tight!" Will grasped his father's waist as tight as he could without a seconds thought, to the point where his fingernails were digging into the lanky man's skin through his shirt, and just like that, they were off with a crack in the air. The acceleration Will experienced was somewhere close as described as a bullet shooting from a gun times ten. The roar of the wind broke against his eardrums, and it felt as if he was on the outside of a fighter jet. His hair flew around his face making it hard for him to see much. He was still gripping his father tightly, of fear of falling off the tiny object. As soon as this massive speed boost was finished, Will opened his eyes.

The only thing he could make out, due to the speed at which they were flying, were the clouds whipping past them, the horizon line of the land around them, which shown tall buildings and structures, and the tiny ordered houses directly below them, that happened to look like play toys at their height. His eyes searched, and upon squinting and finding it, He looked down at his home. His mother was out of view now. He looked around once more, a little less scared of the height at which they were soaring. He saw his old elementary school through a small bush of trees, the kids he went with, full of nostalgia. He was hit with the many memories of being bullied and made fun of by the bigger kids. The contrast between those moments and the one he was experiencing now was beautiful to the boy. He couldn't believe he was actually flying. Flying. He attempted to shout with glee at the top of his lungs, but every time he tried the blaring winds took his breath away. He must've caught his glasses from falling into the abyss below hundreds of times, but he didn't mind. It seemed as if his father was having the same problem with his cap, having to keep it steady with his right hand and steer the broom with his left. They dwindled in the sky, soaring over highways and forests, dodging side to side as they went faster and faster. Will clenched his father's lower waist tight as the wind picked up, making his eyes water and his gums flap slightly. "D-Dad?! What are you doing?!" He managed to utter. However, his father remained silent, focused on his task at hand. Will had decided on trusting his father and letting him concentrate. The winds picked up even more, with and the horizon line he saw just a few moments ago become a blur, his arms fixed, rigid around his father, trying his absolute best to draw breath, he failed to do so, and his very baggy pants and hoodie were about to practically rip-off his body at the speed at which they were going, and suddenly, at with one last look at the seemingly normal world around him, he closed his eyes tight, and suddenly felt light as a feather.

As soon as the harsh feeling had left him, his arms still fixed, he opened his eyes. Around, he saw a large, grassy, enclosed circular field in which alleys, wooden cottages with huge amounts of smoke billowing from many of them made themselves visible. He spotted tall, dome structures, reaching the clouds in the bright sun-filled sky. Along with what had to be at least a couple hundred people wearing odd, cloaked apparel, walking through the many zig zagging pathways going throughout the long city. The village below them accompanied colorful signs, posters, and lights. Owls littered the skies, carrying what looked to be small letters attached to their feet. He looked around in awe of what we saw before him. "Like what you see, do ya?" His father shouted. "Yeah, this is amazing!" He said back, appalled and relieved that the trip was over. His father steered the broom down lower to the ground behind one of the cabins, giving Will a much closer look at to what this bizarre place actually consisted of. They stepped off the broom carefully.

Will was a bit light-headed from the ride, but as he touched the ground his eyes cleared. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and saw the beautiful new world that had appeared around him. There were lines of oak wooden cottages for what seemed like miles, with posters plastered on their large glass-pane windows. Will walked closer to one of the colorful illustrations, and to him, seemed like they were moving! He spun around, looking at the hundreds of bustling civilians, wearing colorful odd robes, some younger than Will himself, carrying different sorts of books, bags, and what looked to be witch cauldrons of varying sizes and shapes. He stood in the middle of the cobblestone path, bewildered at the amount of colorful sparks and flying penny-sized blue creatures swirling in the air. "What is this place, Dad?" Will asked loudly, a huge grin spread across his face. "This, this is Salem, son." His father replied, dodging passersby, still holding the broom.

Will had the sudden temptation to break loose into the crowd and explore this insane town put before him. "It's one of our many small towns, we come here for most necessities. Y'know, food, school supplies, heck, I'm sure there's a pet shop around here somewhere." His father said, peeking into one of the nearby shops. He approached Will and drug him to the side, away from the traffic. "Will, I'm giving you a few knuts and sickles to use for spending. You've got your supplies list, so go on ahead and I'll catch up with you after." He said sternly, looking into Will's eyes coldly. As Will turned to leave, his dad grabbed him by the sleeve. "Promise me, you'll be safe. I know the people that run these shops, if you need help you ask them." He said, again with the same cold stare. "Dad, where are you going?" Will asked, raising his voice so his father could hear him over the noise."Work business." his father replied, being short with him and swatting a blue pixie away with his hand. "Now promise me." he repeated. "Er… I promise." Will stated blankly, looking into the window, something shiny catching his eye. With that, his father handed him the broomstick, and disappeared into the busy crowd of shoppers in front of him.

Alone, Will looked where the cobblestone road had led, and it was rather confusing to say the least. He pulled out of his pants pocket a crumpled up piece of parchment that listed his school supplies. He uncurled the parchment and squinted at the writing:

Hello First-Years! These are the supplies you will need for this school year!:

Potions and Chemistry Textbook- Year 1 by Amelia Hicox

Transfiguration Textbook- Year 1 by George Nigel

Charms and Hexes for Beginning Magicians by Simon Bertrude

The History of Magic- Basic Level by Snorlax Minx

The Dark Arts and How to Defend- Basic Guide by Mad Hair Harris

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

Flying Broom of your choice. (Some will be provided.) Only for Quadpot players!

Quills

Ink Bottles

Parchment

Any school pet of your choice. Animals that are considered venomous/poisonous will be banned immediately! (optional)

A working wand

Thank you!

-Illvermorny Staff

He looked up from the parchment, deciding which direction to go. He settled for going in order of the list, heading for the nearest book shop: 'Brendylum's Books A Plenty', a small little stone cottage, with a contrasting neon sign blinking the stores name of vivid colors in orange and pink. He made his way there and stepped inside through the packed, small doorway, to the point where he had to duck slightly to avoid hitting his forehead. Stepping inside, he immediately dropped his jaw. The ceiling hadn't been where it should've, as the bookshelves on either side of the store had reached for what looked like an eternity. Will tried staring harder, but all he saw were blackness. He prayed that his books weren't all the way up there. He looked around some more, seeing that the left side of the store was rugged, with bookshelves made from oak and cobwebs littered the corners. It was dusty and looked as if hadn't been tended to in years and smelt of mold. On the other right side, however, shown shelves lined with decorative neon lights, flashing colors that alternated between blue, red, and yellow. The floors were tiled and spotless, with a mop sloshing it's water on the floor by itself. Thankfully, the store was practically empty, with only a handful of children in adorned robes searching the shelves. He went up to the front counter, also in keeping with the dual-decorative theme, with seemingly no one there.

"Er… excuse me… is anyone up there?" Will asked, peering over the tall counter. When he received no answer, he began to turn around, until suddenly a high, shrill voice reached his ears. "Well, hello there, handsome!" she said. Will turned back around only to be met with a woman that stood upon the countertop, whose height was comparable to a doll toy, with a very pointed nose and beady, black eyes, along with long, tangled black hair that hung to the floor, and razor-sharp fangs that shown when she spoke. She wore blue and green robes with a matching witch hat atop her head, which was much bigger than she was. "Can I help you?" she squeaked, unblinking. "Yes, please," Will replied, still examining the odd looking woman, "I need a few first year books please." "Ah, so you're a new Illvermorny student, are ya?" She said, hopping from the counter with a thud and leading Will towards one of the neon shelves. "Yes ma'am, I'm just kinda new to this." He replied, eyeing the small woman. She fiddled with the shelves for a few minutes, retrieving book by book by climbing different altitudes with a step ladder. "There we go! All the books you'll need!" She squeaked once more, plopping the handful of books on her countertop with a smack. "I assume you have the finances to cover this?"

Will thought back to the bizarre ornaments his father had given him not to long ago. He reached in his pockets and dug out two dozen odd looking relics and placed them on the counter, having them roll around.

"Is that enough?"

"No. It's not."

"Oh, oka-- Wait a minute. What the heck. How is that not enough?"

"You don't have enough, handsome."

"Give me the books, lady."

"I may… if you hand over that broomstick you're carrying. I could use one of those."

Her beady eyes narrowed towards the broom Will had been holding.

"Not happening."

"Then no deal."

Will knew for sure that this lady stranger was attempting to swindle him. He may have been young, but he wasn't stupid. Thinking quickly and knowing that this was his best option, he snatched a knapsack from a shelf, stuffed the books and money inside it, and dashed outside the store doors, knocking over a group of obnoxiously loud teenage witches. As soon as the bright sun and the cool autumn wind hit his face he ducked behind a stone alley clutching the broom and the knapsack in his hands. He heard the old elvish woman squeal and scream in fits of rage, surprisingly able to keep pace with nimble boy. Onlooking wizards and witches watched in shock and some even laughed. Will didn't care, he kept dodging streetlamps and billboards before tripping on what felt like a rock and landed flat on his nose in the muddy dirt. He shifted his body to get a better view, only to see that he had been cornered by the thieving imp woman, her own wand ready. He staggered back, but before he could be struck by the woman, a boy with his own wand had stepped in front of him.

Chapter 3 - Friendly Faces

A boy somewhat on the large and round side, no older than Will, with large cheeks, a curved nose, weak chin, and small, light-blue eyes, along with long, dark brown hair that flew in the autumn breeze. He wore a blue hoodie and dark jeans, with matching blue running shoes. He stood, wand ready and pointed, in between Will and the small woman creature. "Get back, Brendylum, you're not thieving this one." He said in a threatening tone.

"Oh? What will you do, child? Jinx me with a licorice wand?" She retorted condescendingly.

"Last chance, I'm warning you…"

"You won't do a thing!" she shouted, her wand still raised.

"Incarcerous!" The boy yelled, waving his wand, having a seconds better reaction time than Brendylum.

Then, from thin air, hard, knotted ropes wrapped themselves around the imp's small frame leaving her to fall on the floor hard, and yelp in pain. Will looked on, relieved but startled. She struggled for a good bit, before laying still, panting on the ground. Will got up from the dirt, brushing himself off. He looked around. All the shoppers had certainly not paid attention to the situation that had unfolded, walking about with their purchases as if this was a totally normal occurrence, which Will didn't doubt. Will turned towards the wizard that had just saved him.

"Thanks a lot, good thing you were there." Will said thankfully.

"Oh, it's fine," he said picking up Will's broom and sack and handing it to him. "You never wanna buy your books there, Brendylum's loony."

"Noted." Will replied.

"What's your name?" The boy asked.

"William, but you can just call me Will. Will Johnson." Will replied, glad to have made a friend so quick.

"Oh cool, I'm Dakota Cabe, the guy that just saved your butt."

Will looked slightly embarrassed and scratched his neck.

"You er… got all your supplies yet?" He asked, looking around at the large crowds marching along.

"No, I'm still missing a wand and a pet… but, I'm new to this whole thing. I really don't know where everything is." Will said, his eyes looking at the many stores and signs, fearful he may enter one similar to his first.

"Oh, if you want, I can show you around the place, me and my brother have still got to buy wands as well." Dakota offered.

"Sorry, but didn't you just use a wand?" Will asked, foolishly.

"Oh, heh, no. I bought one of these fake wands over at Jericho's Gags and Ganders." Dakota explained, holding up a rather flimsy and cheap looking stick and pointing it towards a cottage a few blocks away. "It's only capable of doing a couple of lame hexes. Bit disappointing really."

They both walked along the crowded path, joking.

"So what'd she do? Try and get you to spend more than you needed to?" Dakota asked, ducking under a wizard carrying a handful of what looked to be large, long pieces of firewood on his back.

"How'd you know?" Will laughed with a smile.

"I come here with my mom a lot to shop.I've seen it happen to everyone that shops there, good thing I saw you then." Dakota joked.

"Hey Dakota?" Will said.

"What?"

"I'm not returning these."

"Oh."

As time passed, they staggered through the huddles of people past different shops. Whether they ranged from having items far too expensive for their own liking, or just having a very bland selection, they had decided to skip these particular stores. They finally decided upon sitting on a nearby rickety bench next to an old quill shop, with hardly a soul there, save for a few of the blue pixies from earlier. (Which insisted on untying Dakota's shoes again and again, causing him to smack one with a textbook to the face, much to Will's delight.) Dakota, whose face had previously been buried in his Potions textbook, stood up off the bench and his head turned towards the setting sun. "So this is your first time to Salem, huh? Wait to till you see the post! It's actually ridiculous." Dakota said, wiping off his book that had been splattered with pixie snot. Will, confused as to what a 'post' was, looked up from examining his broomstick and saw a massive dark cloud. The cloud seemed to be full of a mix between dark greys, whites, and blacks. As it drew nearer, Will saw that it wasn't a cloud; They were owls. Hundreds, thousands of the flying creatures soared across the pathway above the many cottages, casting a dark shadow on the bustling townspeople. Suddenly, tiny packages and small pieces of parchments started to drop from the swarm of yellow eyes. Wizards and witches from all around grabbing and catching these objects opening them and examining their contents. Some children even got candy, and others opened up massive gifts.

One had even landed in Dakota's lap, an envelope that had 'From Mom' written on it. An even bigger surprise, Will had received one as well. As soon as the massive fleet had left, leaving behind more than just letters, Will and Dakota ripped open their. "Thank Merlin, thought I wouldn't hear from the woman again for years. She's bringing Dylan, my twin brother, along with her, he slept late again…" He said, rolling his eyes in annoyance and rolling up his sleeves. Will ripped open his letter and was relieved to read that it was from his father:

Hey son, sorry for writing so late, got caught up in some work business. I need you to write me as soon as you get this letter, I'll meet up with you at the exit near the gate in a couple of hours. Oh, and let me know what wand you receive, I want to know!

P.S., Don't ride that broom!

Love, Dad

"Hey Dakota?" Will asked.

"Yeah?"

"How do I send an owl back?"

"Oh. Hang on."

Dakota looked around for a moment until finding a stray owl near the bench on which they were sitting, hanging on a light post.

"Hey, bird. Come here." Dakota beckoned, holding out his forearm. The grey owl did as she was told, landing on the boys thick arm and staying there as he walked back to the bench.

"Thanks." Will said, pulling out parchment, quill, and ink out of his stolen knapsack. He put the paper over a book and began to write his letter quite sloppily:

Hey dad, I'm fine. I met a friend, Dakota Cabe, he's been showing me around Salem, and I'm fine. We're about to head towards the pet shop in a few, I'll see you when we get done with everything.

Will

Will tied the rolled up parchment to the bird and told it where to go, thanks to Dakota's directions. The bird soared off the boy's thin arm, and headed off into the sunset.

"Oh, so it's like the mail." Will said, impressed at the flying bird.

"What's a mail?" Dakota asked.

Will noticed that the crowd was indeed getting smaller as time passed and was becoming increasingly more bare. Lights on shops were going out and this allowed Will to see that there was a huge difference in the huge town without as many people there.

"There they are. Finally." Dakota said, pointing towards his mother, who was walking through the front gates. Dakota pushed his books into his bag and walked towards his mother on the half-empty cobblestone path while Will followed. As they neared her, the lights reflecting from the street lamps gave Will a better view of the woman. She was much shorter than her son, with frizzy grey hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail, with large, blue oceans for eyes who looked very tired, and a long, pointed nose. She was a stumpy woman, and wore orange robes, flowing on the ground. This made the dress a bit dirty on the bottom.

"Hey mom, took you long enough." He stated, sarcastically, giving her a hug. "Well, your brother slept late again, you know how he can be…" she said in a hushed tone. "He's off towards the pet shop, so find him before Salem closes--And who's this?" She said as her head turned towards Will. He pushed his glasses up. "Hi, I'm Will," he said nervously, "I met Dakota today. He helped me around."

"Oh well that's good! So you're No-Maj born then?" She said suspiciously, fastening her robe buttons.

"Oh, no ma'am, my parents just told me a few weeks ago." Will replied, not knowing such a thing existed.

"C'mon, Will, we can talk later. Salem locks down at nine, so we best find Dylan." Said Dakota, waving his mother goodbye and grabbing Will by the sleeve. "I'll meet you at gate!" She called behind them.

They traveled down the lamp-lit street, with everything the beam of light didn't hit being pitch black. The slow pace at which they walked eventually evolved into a small jog. They traveled past several closed shops, and even by Brendylum's shop, in which the imp had left her lying place. They ducked between alleyways and cut through food stands before finally reaching a circular common area which housed a fountain sprinkling silver green water from the tip, and 'Pendulum Pets', a large, jagged shaped building, in which the roof's exterior were going in all directions, and the walls appearing to protrude out from one another, with a massive sign on the very top, with the slogan: "Rats, Dogs, and Snakes, oh my!", but with only a few letters still lit and bright.

As they both approached the massive structure, a voice rang out from behind a nearby cottage wall. "...How about you put the book up, and face me. Stop being a total coward. It's a disgrace." Said the voice in an angry growl. Will beckoned for Dakota to lean against the stone wall, as to not be seen by the person on the other side. They both slid across the cold cottage, slowly approaching the corner. Dakota mouthed: "Don't do it." to Will in the darkness. Ignoring him, Will carefully and silently peered around the corner, seeing a boy sitting at a table, reading a large book. His appearance had resembled that of Dakota. They both had the same large body, however the only apparent difference was that this particular boy had worn thin, rectangular glasses, and had much shorter hair, almost being shaved into a buzzcut. He wore a grey shirt with a red jacket and blue jeans. In front of the boy stood a lean, built boy, with dirty, sandy, greasy hair, along with small, grey eyes, and adorning a massive nose that was almost the size of his baggy black shirt that he wore with his pants. He looked like he had to be at least seventeen. Will kept listening. "So you're not gonna answer, huh? Had a feeling you were a freak." The tall, built boy said, pulling out his wand. "Now I'm gonna ask you one more time for your sickles…" The twin of Dakota didn't even look up from his book.

"HEY!" Will shouted, the sounds echoing off the stone walls, making a few owls fly off in fear.

The built boy turned around, swiftly, as if acting like a hunting cat. Will had appeared, standing in the moonlight, Dakota was trying to bring him back behind the wall.

"You wanna play hero, scrawny?" The boy growled, apparently annoyed.

"Er…" Will stuttered, eyeing the built boy's wand.

The built boy's wand was pointed directly at Will. Dakota, getting ready to leap...

"Impediment--" The built boy said, attempting to cast a spell.

WHOOSH.

The built boy suddenly was picked off the ground and forced into the brick cottage Dakota was hiding behind with a loud smack. It was like a rag doll had been threw in mid-air. The built boy picked himself up with great difficulty, and limped away slowly, cursing, disappearing into the shadows…

"Freak! I knew it!"

The boy that had been reading stood up from his table.

"Dylan, was that you?" Dakota whispered, appearing from behind the cottage.

"I guess…" the twin mumbled, looking into the direction of which the boy had limped off. "He said his name was Wyatt, said he wanted my money…naturally, I didn't give it to him."

"Dylan, I don't know if you noticed, but you just performed a nonverbal spell before your first year. You don't think that's a little weird?"

"I was just irritated." Dylan replied, nonchalantly. "Who are you?" He said turning his attention to Will.

"This is William Johnson, he's new to this stuff, so don't clutter his brain with your dumb Dark Arts facts. It'll hurt his poor soul." Dakota teased.

"Wow. You stood up for me in front of that guy. You didn't even have a wand... You're either really brave, or really stupid." He said in a sarcastic tone. "I like you. I'm Dylan."

"Thanks, I guess?" Will said in a high voice.

After the trio had gotten settled, they decided that they should hurry as the time was nearing eight. They all three scuttled into the near empty pet store. Inside, there were hundreds of floors of different animals,frogs, owls, cats, dogs, of all sizes and shapes, each with a name and a colored glass pane in front of them, giving the store an inviting and colorful look. There was an old man in a wizard's hat working the front counter, who had seemingly fallen asleep, seeing as his face had smacked into an open book. Not having the time to look around, the three split up quickly, with Dakota heading towards the left, Will the middle, and Dylan the right. Dakota had found an infatuation with a grey, sleek cat with glistening aqua eyes, with the name: Mist. He scooped her out of her glass cage and paid for the animal. Dylan, after a serious time deciding, as he was particularly picky about his choice, had gone with a green, scaly snake with yellow eyes, and two long protruding fangs. I had no name, but Dylan scooped the snake out of the cage and took him to the counter anyway. With Will, there were many animals that he liked the look of, but only one that caught his eye. Running past the toads and rats on what had to be at least the fourth level, he arrived at the cage of a black and brown Yorkshire Terrier who had immediately started barking at the boy and scratching the glass. Will read the passage that had been written on a plaque near the dog:

'Abandoned by owners for loudness, smell, and the lacking ability to listen. Found shivering cold in London during the winter, only a year old.'

The puppy had ears bigger than it's head, and small paws with untrimmed claws along with uncut, unruly fur. The name read: 'Brody'. "Alright bud, let's get you outta here." The three boys made their decisions and purchased the animals, bursting out the store in a heap of cages and jars, rushing towards 'Wingull's Wands', another large stone building with a huge see-through glass dome in the middle of the structure. The store had no sign, only two wooden doors, in which the trio hobbled through.

The interior of the foreboding store was entirely candle-lit, and extremely quiet with no one in sight. The only sounds being made by Brody's pants and excited barks, which echoed on the cobblestone walls and ceiling. There were no other rooms, only a large stone staircase that led down into the darkness. Above the staircase, a sign, rocking back and forth, was pinned to the stone wall:

Wizard, don't be scared,

Wizard, go down the stairs,

Enter the Dome quickly and let your wand choose you…

Approach the front counter when finished to complete the ceremony.

Will studied the sign, trying to figure out what it meant, but before he could, the twins dragged him along. "Don't worry, we know what we're doing." Dylan remarked, pulling Will by his skinny arm. The boy almost dropped everything, he decided on putting the broomstick in his bag, and carrying the yapping dog's cage in both his hands. They all three went down the long , dark staircase, re-emerging in a massive room, with only glass as the wall. Entering the room slowly, they all looked in awe, seeing the starry night sky. It looked like they were trapped inside a giant, transparent egg.

"What's the time, Dylan?" Will asked still mesmerized by the sight of which he saw, gaping at the tall ceiling.

" Thirty till nine."

The trio took turns, each of them eager.

Dakota was first, who stepped into the glass dome center. "This is what Mom told me to do, hope it works." He muttered, looking down through the glass floors. In the very center of the egg-like dome, sat a raised circular pillar. It was decorated with ornate patterns and emitted a glossy black color. As Dakota stepped upon the pillar, the glass dome lit a golden-yellow color, and suddenly, without warning, the whole room glistened with the color of a deep blue, casting the colors on Will and Dylan's faces. He then was raised off his feet levitating in mid-air. Will stared gaping and what he had seen. Dakota showed no signs of fear, and from what Will could see, had his eyes closed, looking very relaxed. Dakota drifted up, his body completely limp into the center of the dome. Suddenly, what must have been three dozen, hand carved, elegant sticks appeared before him in sparks of whites. His eyes still shut, trancelike, he held out his arm. A wand near the wall with a dark, almost black, blue hilt with a dark ashy coloring at the handle that smoothly transitioned into lighter shades toward the tip, slowly approached his hand. When his out stretched hand reached the stick he closed his fingers around it tightly. A loud sound that sounded like a giant ocean wave rang through the egg. The glass that aligned the walls went back to it's original see-through appearance.

Dylan and Will watched Dakota float slowly back down on the circular platform, examining his new weapon, he returned to the stairs. "Wow, that, that was something." He said, lightly. This statement made Will a bit uneasy. What did he mean by that? Dakota went and sat on one of the nearby steps, seemingly light headed. "Wait, what do you me--" Will was interrupted by Dylan. Uncaringly, Dylan hobbled up to the circular, ornate platform and stepped upon it. The glass turned the same golden color, casting a bright light, and then almost immediately turned a murky grey color changing the egg into having a melancholy atmosphere. Just like his brother before him, his eyes closed, in a relaxed state. He gracefully glided towards the center of the glass dome, relaxing his body in the air. Will looked on in shock of what was happening. Again, at least three dozen wands appeared before him in sparks of white, with a single one, a jet black, pointy wand, with a white skeletal hilt, gliding towards his outstretched hand. He grabbed it and the ear-crushing sound of what sounded like a rockslide made Will and Dakota flinch and cover their ears. The glass turned from the grey, dark color into the original see-through color it had once been. Will watched as Dylan fell slowly onto the small platform, and then stepped off, clumsily walking in a dizzying motion. He passed Will, having to lean on the wall. "Your turn," he panted, drunkenly, examining his wand and taking a seat next to his brother.

Will glanced at them nervously. "Will, don't worry, it's not that bad." Dylan said in the same drunken tone, waving around his new wand. Will nodded, and shaking with fear, stepped onto the glass. He looked down, he could see the trees and grass from outside below him through the glass. He stepped carefully on top of the circular, ornate platform. He waited. Nothing happened. No gliding or floating. Nothing. "What's going on?" He asked to the brothers, his voice bouncing off the glass that surrounded him. "We don't know--" Dakota was cut off. Will wasn't too sure why, but he couldn't hear a thing. Not too many moments later, he felt the most relaxing feeling he had ever felt in his life. It was fleeting, like he had just done something incredible. He then couldn't see anything. He tried opening his eyes, but it was as if they were glued shut. He tried moving his arms, legs, but they were numb, he couldn't even feel them there. He suddenly felt light, like he were on the moon, floating up and up… in the darkness, he felt something, something powerful. He reached for it, seeing a bright yellow light flicker towards him.. Closer and closer until he could almost feel it-- but the dancing flicker jumped back, as if nervous. Slowly, the flicker came closer and closer...There.

He had it. He had the power. It built up inside his body and heard the deafening sound of a cyclone rampaging through his ears, and then nothing. All of a sudden, he felt as if he were falling, faster and faster through the darkness until he suddenly woke up. He stood on the same circular ornate platform, breathless, looking at the wand in which he held in his long fingers. It was a simple, short, black stick with a hazel hilt that looked as if it had been carved a long time ago… he stepped down from the pillar, almost falling over on his face before gaining his balance at the last second. He stumbled toward his friends. "That's a nice looking wand, right there, wonder what core it is…" Dakota said, gathering his cat cage and knapsack. "Core? What's that?" Will asked, examining the stick in his fingers.

"A core is what powers the wand, it can be made up of a whole bunch of things. I read about it in 'Wands: A Story of Wonder." Dakota stated, whilst examining his own, new wand and picking up his things.

"Come on, let's go finish up, I'm ready to go." Dylan complained monotonically, also gathering his new snake friend, who he seemed to have a strange infatuation with.

They all three clumsily walked up the steps, pushing and shoving each other, all rather excited to finish this new milestone in their unique lives.

They reached the top of the stone stairs and once again entered the dim, candle-lit room. Turning to the right at the stairs, they turned into a small archway, which led to a room filled with shelves on either side, each full with thousands of ordered, near boxes. Will guessed that these boxes must've housed other wands. This room was much brighter and inviting than one the before, having much more bright, orange candles wrapping around the entire interior. In the center of the room at the far back sit a countertop with an old man behind it. The man looked exhausted, as if he had been running the counter for days. He had wild, unruly purple hair that stuck up like giant spires on his head. Strangely, he had two eyes that couldn't be more different from one another. One was small as a dime, and of the color orange. The other, however was as big as the mans whole face, unblinking, and of the color, a deep sky-blue. These eyes were partners with a pair of goggles that didn't even fit on the man's head, as it hung loosely around his neck. He had appeared to wear a similar looking robes as the other wizards and witches.

The old man perked up as soon as the three children entered the room.

"Well hello there!!" The man sang, hopping up from his sitting place and coming to greet them.

"Uh… hi there…" Will said disoriented, as the man shook his hand, wobbling the frail boy's body up and down.

"I'm so glad someone came! It's been hours since I had a customer. Come, come…"

He led the three of them to the counter and held out his gnarly, untrimmed hand for a wand inspection.

"You first, boy," his eyes falling upon Dylan. "Give me your wand."

Dylan held out his wand and gave it to the man.

"Oh… very bizarre…," he whispered, as he examined the wand, his two contrasting eyes narrowing up and down the black weapon. "My dear boy, you have a very, peculiar wand.

"Why? What is it?" Dylan demanded, slight impatience in his voice.

"Interesting…"

"What. Is. it."

"A double-core wand… with two very distinct cores."

"Tell me already old man!" Dylan asked, putting his hand on the counter.

"A basilisk fang... and the claw of a Grim…"

Dylan and Dakota gave each other rather solemn stares, while Will gave what seemed to be his usual look of confusion by this point.

"I sense, a rather dark future for you, my dear boy…best be careful with that wand…" The old man finished, picking up a large quill and jotting down something. He handed the wand back to Dylan. Dylan looking at the wand, concerned and mumbled a few words that sounded oddly like "old coot."

"Now you," The old man continued, this time reaching for Dakota's wand. Dakota reluctantly handed the old man his wand. He studied it for a moment, looking at the dark-colored stick. "Ah… very curious indeed," the old man studied. "A rather uncommon core… a Leviathan scale…" the old man said, still looking at the wand as if he could see right through it. " I sense… a very bright future for you...very powerful...yes, indeed,… here you go…" He said, handing the wand back to the boy. Dakota seemed relieved at the news, and with a pat on the back and a "good luck", Will was left alone, still clutching his weapon. The old wandkeeper reached out his gnarled hand again, reaching for the wand. Will handed the wand to him, then standing back, awaiting his own inspection.

The wandkeeper looked at the black wand, looking it up and down with a rather stoic face. He eyed it much more carefully than the other two, moving his long fingernails over the grooves of the wood.

"Hawthorne wood…" he stuttered, squinting harder at the object. "With a… Griffin feather as its core." He finished.

"Is that good?" Will spoke up, eager to know.

"Oh my boy, that wand core is the rarest I've come across! You should be proud, lad. Handle it with care…" The wandkeeper trailed off, turning his back to Will and mumbling gibberish. "Will, let's go, or we'll be late." Dylan said, sticking his wand in the pocket of his red jacket.

Will turned towards the two, and they all gathered their pets and sacks, and walked out of the candle-lit room rather quickly, into the cool, night breeze, back into the circular enclave.

"What's the time, Dylan," Will asked as he struggled with the dog crate, almost dropping it into the nearby fountain.

"Crap. It's ten till nine."

"Ten minutes?," Dakota remarked, also having trouble with his accessories, dropping his sack to the stone ground. "That gives us plenty of time."

"No Dakota. Ten seconds." Dylan corrected, looking miserable his face going paler than it usually was.

At the end of those ten seconds, out of the night sky, a couple hundred feet up in the air, a purple, fizzing sphere appeared from out of nowhere. It shot white sparks from it, raining it down on the cottages below. They boys looked up, frightened and confused.

"Does that usually happen??" Will exclaimed, squinting at the rapidly vibrating orb.

"We've been late before, the only thing we got was a warning from a shopkeeper…" He said, a look of utter shock upon his face.

Suddenly, the ball shook violently, shooting out bigger sparks, as if it was an egg about to hatch. It kept vibrating, harder and harder. The purple sphere began to warp and shift, a deep lavender color bursting between its newly formed cracks. Finally, with one final shake, the ball burst in the night sky, a deep, purple dome began to form around the whole city, slowly entrapping any poor soul.

"T-That's an Entrapment Orb, I've read about them, they're like bombs, they go off at a set time and put an unbreakable dome over their target." Said Dakota, as he beckoned the others into a light jog.

"I bet this wand could break it." Said Dylan, eyeing the slowly enveloping purple magic and twisting the wand in between his meaty fingers.

"No, Dylan, you idiot. I literally just said that they were unbreakable!" Dakota retorted.

"Then we've gotta get under it, and fast, before Salem becomes an igloo!" Will interrupted, rapidly swinging Brody, who was whimpering, and the bag in his arms.

They were all running now, panting and huffing as they side-stepped in between cottage alleys, seeing the shop owners step out their front doors and look in shock of the creeping curse that lit the sky.

"Who… Could've set… that…" Will panted in between breaths, pushing up his glasses.

"You… know it was that Wyatt… kid…" Dylan breathed as he and Dakota struggled to keep up, their shoes dripping with wet, fresh mud.

"I doubt it; you know they're illegal, the only place they're housed is at Ministry in Britain." Dakota replied, slipping and sliding among the brown goop.

The three picked up their pace, but the exit gate seemed nowhere in sight. Will looked up again to see that the dome was halfway formed, trickling down like a raindrop on a window. The shopkeepers were now disappearing back into whence they came; apparently too frightened to stay out in the night. The trio's footsteps and breaths were all that could be heard, as their shoes slammed hard against the pavement, and their breath rapid and clumsy.

"We're not gonna make it," Dakota replied wearily, looking ahead at the purple dome that neared the ground.

"It's over…"

"How long does the dome stay!?" Will asked, his lungs practically collapsing as he sprinted harder, his blue eyes staring straight ahead.

" At least twenty-four hours, I think," Dylan huffed, starting to slow his pace from exhaustion. "We'll miss the first day of school."

Will kept running at an alarming rate, shooing pixies away from his face and taking sharp turns through the barren streets in hopes it would bring him closer to the exit gates. His father must be worried sick, and then he remembered his letter that he had received earlier, and how his father had told him to meet him… and to not…

Ride the broom.

It was like a lightbulb had popped into the boy's head. Still running rapidly through the cobblestone streets, he spoke to the twins:

"Guys! I can't believe I hadn't thought of it earlier! It's been right in front of me this whole time!"

Whoosh.

They ducked under a hanging sign, still sprinting, a little slower now.

"Will cut the drama and tell us! Now!" Dakota shrieked, not taking his eyes off the giant lavender dome that had manifested around them; casting a dark ominous glow over the whole city.

"My broom. It's been here this whole time, we can ride it! It'll be much faster!" Will huffed, pulling the broom from his knapsack. They all came to sudden halt, their shoe treads slipping against the hard grass on the ground.

"Are you insane?" Dylan barked, giving Will a look of anger. "That old thing couldn't carry a house-elf two meters."

"Plus, using it would get us suspended from school. You're dad told you not to!" Dakota chimed in, running his large hands through his long hair.

"We've gotta try. It's our only option." Will replied back, once again looking at the dome in the clouds, the end of it nearly reaching the Earth. Reluctantly, all three boys discarded their animal's cages, plopping them into their backpacks. Mist was not particularly fond of this, scratching its grey paws against the brown leather of the inside of Dakota's bag. Silzon seemed rather okay with this, lazily curling up inside the sack. Brody, the energetic ball of excitement that he was, had settled on sticking his small head out the sack opening of Will's bag. Once the trio had sorted their belongings into the sacks to prepare for the flight, the dome was a few twenty feet from enveloping Salem. They quickly strapped the bags on. Will fiddled with the broom, attempting to make it rigid like his father had done. On his third try, he had done it, stiff as a board in seemingly thin air. They all three clumsily hobbled onto the tiny object, surprisingly not giving away to the extra passengers. Will held on to the oak, gripping it tight in his small palms. They all barely fit, with Dakota on the back, hanging off the end, his rump in the bristles. It immediately lowered slightly from all the added weight.

"You know how to fly this thing, right?" Dylan asked, looking back to pull his brother up.

"No. But, there's a first time for everything, right?" Will responded, eyeing the ever enclosing wall.

Will leaned his body forwards, eyes straight ahead, a stern expression across his face. To his surprise, the broom started moving. Slowly at first, the boys grabbed each other's waists, as they soon began to slide off. Will leaned forward a bit more, picking up speed. He narrowly avoided a few owls eating crumbs on the gleaming purple path. He then tilted the broom upwards towards the sky, gaining altitude and reaching a point where he flew at the height the owls did. The cold night wind began to lash at their faces, and their hair blow in the breeze. Will wobbled with the broom, not having any prior knowledge on how to ride it. He steadied himself and tried to keep the speeding object afloat, as it steadily lowered every few moments.

"Will! Look!" Dakota pointed, almost falling off onto one of the gleaming light posts below.

Will narrowed his eyes to where Dakota had been pointing. This height gave them a much better look at the purple magic. The dome was deadly close now, teasing the gate exit. The gate seemed so far away, for what had to be miles. With one clumsy attempt, Will lurched his small body forward, rocketing the boys in a blaze of speed. Brody ducked his head quickly into Will's bag as the boy did this. He felt Dylan's fingers puncture his lungs out of impulse, causing Will to wince. Yet, his eyes remained forward, fixed upon the gate far away. To Will, it had seemed as if they were going faster than his father on his first trip there. He managed to maneuver chimneys full of smoke, owls fluttering about, and large spires that protruded from the small houses. All the while, his eyes fixed upon the gate, that seemed closer now. He lurched further on the small broom, the harsh wind sucking breath from the three boys as Will continued to gain speed, like a comet in the purple glow of Salem.

He gained more and more speed, the gate coming closer and closer into view now. His body hunched over as far as it would go, ignoring the other two boys gasps and pleads to be let down, he was so close to being free, to saving his new friends, the purple magic bearing down on his face like a hot sun, the wind collapsing his lungs, he was at the gate now, the purple magic scraping his hair and neck. If he didn't make he would sure die from impact… To his shock, the broom had left his grip and he was now free falling. He plummeted what for what felt like forever. He waggled his arms and legs around, not able to stop himself from speeding towards to what looked to be a black, dark field…

Will hit the ground, hard. Skidding through puddles of mud and laying very still after a brief slide. He tried moving, to look for Dylan and Dakota. But he felt too weak. He lie there, in immense pain, as if someone had just stabbed him with a thousand tiny daggers. The cold night air breathing down his face. He tried keeping his eyes open, but failing to do so, as his last view before he fainted was of the bright black sky, a million stars playing upon it, no purple in sight...

Chapter 4 - Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

The next morning was a foggy and dreary one.

"...if you keep leering over the boy like that I'm going to smack you." A woman's voice said.

"He's not dead, is he mom?" A voice that sounded like Dakota spoke right next to Will's ear.

"No, he's alive, but only just." She replied in a worried tone.

Will felt warm and comfortable. He attempted at opening his eyes to see what this cozy place was but only got a blur of two chubby faces before his eyelids shut themselves seeing darkness once more.

"Hey,… I think he's waking up…" A man whispered.

Will's eyes, with much effort, opened. It took them a moment to focus, but as soon as he did, he saw four friendly faces looking back at him.

"Hey there, sport," Whispered his father, ruffling Will's hair. "How do you feel?"

"I've feelsabitwoozy…" Will said drunkenly, his brain was still adjusting.

"You took a nasty fall there, sweetie." Will turned to see Dylan and Dakota's mother he had only met earlier. Will immediately went red in the face, embarrassed at everyone knowing about his accident. He turned to push up his glasses and noticed a white gauze wrapped around his hand stained with dark blood. He was in some sort of house, lying on a bed. It was a small room, with decorated violet wallpaper. To his left he saw a crackling log fireplace and a few disproportionate chairs and couches surrounding it.

"What… what happened?" Will asked weakly, struggling to sit up.

"Mrs. Cabe and I were waiting on you three at the exit gate. We waited until we both saw the Entrapment Orb, and a few moments later we saw you riding the broom. We took you all here, to her home." His father stated. His father hadn't sounded angry with him, or maybe Will was just too tired to care. "She was worried sick she was, but I knew you'd pull through. It's funny, not one day has passed since I've took you into this world and you're already breaking the law." His father continued.

"But we got lucky, Will," Dylan finished, much delight in his voice. "The MACUSA isn't charging us with anything because it was in self defense."

"I'm sorry, the what?" Will replied, still dazed and looking around the small, warm room.

"The Magical Congress of the United States of America," His father answered. "It's our government, they make the laws and we follow them. Don't think hard about it."

"They came while you were passed out, questioned us. Mom was freaking out. Should've seen her." Dylan laughed, exiting the room and into and into what seemed to be a massive kitchen.

"So, everything's okay, right?" Will asked, wincing as he tried to sit up off the fluffy bed.

"Well everything except that arm, of course. I don't wanna use magic, don't wanna make it worse, even though I hate the No-Maj way of doing things." Mrs. Cabe continued, wrapping a fresh hot pad on Will's shoulder. "You must've fell about thirty feet, poor thing. It's not broken, rest it up, you're off to school at six.

The Cabes lived in a relatively high-life looking black mansion, with large diamond windows with what looked to be three floors. The exterior had housed Victorian style gargoyles on its roof and two towering double doors at its front. It also had a jaw-dropping back lawn stretching for miles, complete with swimming pool. However, Will wasn't able to experience this magnificent luxury, as he was confined in the same bed because of his injury during the very hectic day. He lay in bed, his thoughts drifting towards the many events that had occurred the other night. They had all seemed to happen so fast, and as he lay in the silent, room with only the sounds of the nearby fire and and the scolding of Mrs. Cabe to Dylan about his new pet to keep him company. He was now a part of the world having experienced it first hand. He was extremely grateful for the two new friends he made, they seemed as if they cared for him, something he had needed in this bizarre point in his life.

After almost dozing off for the tenth time, Will jerked up, which was quite painful, at his father who had just walked in. His father pulled up a nearby chair and sat next to the bed, holding out his hand to pet the sleeping dog, who had taken a strong liking to Will over the short period of time he'd known him and curled in his lap.

"Your books and supplies are here… I'm proud of you y'know." He stated. "And I saw your wand… Griffin feather, eh? That's my boy."

"Heh, thanks dad." Will replied, holding his injured shoulder.

"Now that's all fine and dandy, but son, you committed a big crime last night, and I don't know how put that to you nicely." His father said, still stroking the small creature.

"Dad, I had to… We were going to be trapped, I had to try…" Will sighed, not fond of hearing his father down talk him.

"It's fine. But catching the MACUSA's attention is a big deal. We had to lie through our teeth at the officers to keep you three out of trouble. If it weren't for my job there, I don't know what would've happened..."

"I'm sorry… but we got through, didn't we?"

"That's not the point, Will. Promise me you won't go getting yourself in any trouble at school."

"I promise."

"I'm serious. Don't think you can save everyone, because you can't." His father finished, getting up from the chair and awakening Brody. "Now, I'm off to work. I've known Glenda from school for a long time, and you seem to get along with her sons. She'll see you off to Illvermorny."

"Okay dad. Will you write me?" Will said back, sad to see his father leaving so soon.

"Of course I will. Your shoulder should feel better soon. And have a good term, and do good! You'll love it." His father finished, grabbing his coat of the sofa. "Oh, and listen to Headmaster Fontaine, that man's a great one."

Will hugged his father goodbye and was once again left alone...

"Will! Get up! You'll be late for your first day!" Mrs. Cabe shrieked as Will opened his eyes from a deep sleep. "And Dylan Cabe, get that ugly thing out of my face and into a cage!" She finished, pointing at the snake slithering along Dylan's shoulders happily. Will awakened rapidly, his arm seemingly healed over sleep. "Sorry, dear, couldn't help but use magic. The filthy No-Maj procedures just weren't working." Mrs. Cabe complained as Will massaged his arm. He quickly crawled out of the comfy bed, stepping onto the colorful green carpet that led all throughout the mansion. Mrs. Cabe led him to his luggage in the far corner of the room that his father had left him, pulling out a t-shirt and jeans for the small boy. After which she had practically forced him up two flights of long wooden stairs into a giant bathroom complete with shower. Afterwards exiting the bathroom, he saw Mrs.Cabe scuttling from massive room to massive room. She seemed ridiculously uptight, gathering luggages and folding clothes into suitcases, along with scolding the two young twins into getting ready. Finally, after getting ready, Will and Dylan met in the tall kitchen, (which took Will a few minutes longer, getting lost and ending up in a trophy room), and sat down at the square table in the center. On the table sat three plates of towering, syrup filled pancakes. The sight of the food made Will's mind think of his mother. Only a day ago had he told her goodbye, and set out into this far away land. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

"Your arm feelin' better this morning?" Dylan asked through a mouthful of food.

"Yeah, it feels much better, thank you guys for letting me stay and come with. My dad headed out for work again… I wonder what he does there…" Will replied gloomily, moving his fork slowly through the thick syrup.

"Hey, I wouldn't worry too much about it, plus, you can write him as soon as we get to school." Dylan stated, trying to perk Will up. "Besides, I'm sure as soon as we get there you'll forget all about it."

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but, how'd you guys get the money to buy this place? It's massive." Will said, eyeing the ornate countertops.

"Oh, our father was related to some old relative, what was his name…? Smegulus Quack, or something like that. When he died, our dad got loads of money from it." Dylan replied, still chewing.

"Oh, er… where is your dad, anyway?" Will asked.

"Gone. We never knew him. Mom said he was killed by a No-Maj somehow. That's why she hates them so much." Dylan replied shortly.

"I'm sorry…"

They both sat quietly at the table, stuffing faces, until Dakota dashed into the room and smacked a, what seemed like to be a newspaper, down on the table next to their plates. "Guys, look at this." he said, concerned, pointing at a black-and-white moving picture on the paper. It showed the wandkeeper they had met the night before, lying on the floor, his big and small eyes open and very still, showing no emotion, while cloaked men huddled wearing uniforms, taking photos. Will started to sweat as he eyed the other two, giving them worried looks of fright. Will's eyes then moved to the top of the page, showing a bolded headline that read:

'WENDELL WORTHINGTON, OWNER OF FAMOUS SHOP, WENDELL'S WANDS, FOUND MURDERED IN HIS OWN STORE'

Will felt sick to his stomach, almost vomiting his swallowed pancakes right then and there.

"Guys, that was that was the wandkeeper from last night!" Dakota cried, visibly shaken.

"So?" Dylan said uncaringly, taking another bite of pancake.

"So!?," Will spoke up, angered slightly by Dylan's comment. "That poor man was killed last night! Who knows why…"

"There's nothing we can do about it now. People are crazy, this stuff happens." Dylan replied darkly, acting very mature for his young age.

"If we had just stayed a little longer…" Will told himself, pushing his glasses up his large nose.

"We would've been trapped in the town with the same murderer. You did the right thing, I think, Will. Mom told us not to worry about it," Dakota stated, picking up the fork and helping himself to a piece of pancake. "...Says it some junk the Congress made up, whatever that means."

Will tried to push the dark thoughts out of his head. Mrs.Cabe came down the spiraling staircase, carrying three large trunks filled to the brim with clothes and books.

"Let's go children, we best be off to the portkey station," She said, using magic to bring the animals and their cages to the boys' feet. "Don't wanna be late…"

"A portkey?" Will asked as he turned to the boys, hoping for an answer.

"It's an object that's been cast with an enchantment," Dakota answered immediately, while Dylan rolled his eyes. "It can teleport you to any specific place. I read about them in--"

"Okay, he gets it. Let's get going, before mom yells at us." Dylan interrupted, following his mother out the door.

They walked from the giant mansion, into the foggy weather. They must've walked down an hour long dirt trail, as they all were panting halfway there. They marched downwards along the mud-filled trail, Will looking over a dewey hill and seeing the large town of Salem, the purple dome from the night before slowly dissolving. From where they were standing, Will could also see the building of 'Wendell's Wands', a large crowd gathered around it's front doors. The dark thoughts crept into Will's mind again, him doing his best to keep himself focused on the task at hand. As they approached their destination, the laughs and yelps of children reached their ears. He looked down to see that the trail led down to a large, wooden dock, ceilinged by trees, next to a vast ocean. They eventually arrived at the dock, which housed a massive, gleaming steam train, with the smoke puffing as big as the moon, along a bridged, arch lane that carried out into the water. There had to have been at least a hundred or so students there, making it very crowded. Some were boarding the train, and others were waiting in line at the door of a small cottage that was housed far away, on the other side of the harbor.

"Are we getting on the train, mom?" Dylan asked, starting towards it, his snake on his back and his luggage in hand.

"No, boy." She snapped as she grabbed Dylan by the hood and yanked him back, making the green snake set up in attack position."We're going to that small cottage across the way, see?"

She led the three boys towards the small house that housed the long line.

"This is where I see you all off," She sobbed, a bit teary eyed. "Make me and your father proud!" Giving the twins a tight embrace.(One which Dylan hadn't particularly enjoyed.) To Will's surprise, she had even given him a hug as well. They waved her goodbye, and was jostled into the line that led to the portkey. After waiting a bit, the short boy in front of them turned around, nervous about something. He had short, combed black hair, with slanted, dark eyes. His skin was rather dark, and he wore a vibrant green jacket in such a way that his collar covered his mouth. "Hey!," He said, his voice muffled, eyeing all three of the boys. "I just moved here from Hawaii, I'm Trystan Doyle." He said, holding out his hands for them to shake. None of them did. "Look, I'm No-Maj born, okay?." He said, trying to play it off by rushing his hands through his jet-black hair. His eyes spun to the cottage. "Any tips on the portkey I should know about?"

"Hang on tight. It's gonna be bumpy." Dakota answered loudly, nodding his head towards the entrance of the cottage, which seemed to be flashing white from it's windows, as it was their turn. Trystan stepped inside, turning around to wave, and then closing the door behind him. Then Dakota. Then Dylan.

"Next!" A groggy voice growled.

Will opened the small door and stepped inside. An old man with a long white beard and a giant red hat greeted him behind a counter.

"First or second year?" He growled again.

"Er.. First."

The old wizard pulled out a manky, old hiking boot, which smelt like fish, making Will gag.

"Alright, laddy," He said, putting the boot on the counter. "Place your hand on the portkey when ready to be transported to Illvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, have a great term." The wizard said, monotonically, as if this was the thousandth time he had said that today.

Will, shaking with nervousness, raised his free hand, (the other being occupied by Brody's cage and his broom.), and grabbed the stinky old boot, tight.

Will felt as though a hook behind his navel had been jerked irresistibly forward. His feet left the ground; he could feel his trunk and Brody's cage banging against his legs. He was speeding forward in a howl of wind and a tornado of color. His fingers were connected to the boot as if it was magnetically attached. Then-- his feet suddenly hit the ground with tremendous force. Brody's cage and his bag landed next to him. He staggered several feet, eventually collapsing in a heap on the ground and immediately smelling the stinging odor of the sea. He picked himself up, with a pitch-black forest behind him, and a downward sloping hill of grass that led into a vast, black ocean in front.After his eyes had adjusted, Will saw that across the ocean was a long, torch lit wooden bridge that ultimately led to something he had never seen before.

A towering, foreboding, giant, black castle. It had what looked to be ten or so towers protruding from it's many ceilings. It reached the moon, its height dwarfing the pine trees and plant life surrounding it. It was housing many grey spires and bridges, with a million tiny orange lit-windows sprinkled on it, sat on the highest mountain he's ever seen; surrounded by ocean, awaiting it's next first-year students in the starlit night sky.

Chapter 5 - The Sorting Ceremony

After Will had regained his focus, as the castle in the distance still had him awestruck, he looked in the distance towards the oak bridge that was raised over the ocean. He saw Dylan and Dakota waiting for him at the front of it, beckoning him forward. The other dozen or so first-years were already halfway across the bridge.

"Come on, Will! We'll be late for the Sorting!" Dakota yelled, waving his hand, still beckoning him forward still.

Will picked up his dog and luggage, slipping down the grassy slope that led towards the sea. He stepped carefully up the wooden stairs and began to walk up the bridge to meet his friends.

"Some castle isn't it?" Dylan said as they walked, looking up at the mountain before them.

"Yeah. Some castle…" Will replied, he too still mesmerized. "Hey, uh, what's the Sorting?"

"Oh, we don't know. Mom just told us that there were four houses, and we'd sorted into them through some kind of test. I couldn't find anything about it in any books." Dakota replied.

This statement made Will's fantastic night turn quickly into a fearful one. He didn't know any spells or magic yet. What would they have him do? Would he be kicked out for not knowing enough? Surely not… What kind of school would that be?

They walked along the bridge, the tall waves crashing into the fences, Will trying to ask Dakota questions about spells, annoying him in the process.

As they neared the end of the bridge, they entered a large cove in the mountain the castle had been built on. This cove had rocky stairs that seemed to lead up to the castle itself. At the foot of these stairs stood a tall,dumpy, wide glob of a man, that had thick, green, glistening skin, two underbite fangs, and one large, glossy grey eye, square in the center of it's horned head. It wore only a pair of thick, dirt-stained trousers.

"First-years over 'ere!" It shouted, waving his giant, clawed hand in the air, impossible to miss, and the other cradling a lantern.

A dozen or so first years hurried towards the creature, a few students staying behind, most likely foreboded by the seven foot tall thing. Trystan Doyle nearly fainted at the sight. The three reached the end of the bridge, Will and Dakota a bit overwhelmed at the sight of a cyclops. Dylan, however, took this as a chance to challenge authority.

"You work here?" Dylan asked sharply, stepping off the bridge and onto the cove ground.

"Yes, I'm Phemus, I work as the groundskeeper…No need to be frightened, I'm a friendly one, I am." The cyclops replied, pointing students up the steps.

"Bit silly, isn't it? Putting an oaf like you in charge of children? I read cyclops' were supposed to be naturally evil." Dylan insulted.

The cyclops ignored his failed attempt at making him angry, making Dylan equip a glare. He pushed them up the steps, a little more forcefully on Dylan.

They reached the top of the steps, climbing out of the mountain cavern. Phemus led them, along with the other first-years down a stretched cobble path on the cliffside, the thick black waves crashing below them. As they walked, Will and some others were off put by the tall creature. He huddled the crowd of first-years towards a tall, black, spiked gate. It took up the whole path. It housed a giant shining lock, bigger than Will's head, adorned on the face. The lock was golden, and engraved in it was a coat of arms, showing pictures of a bird, a jaguar, a serpent, and a bizarre, human looking creature with thick spines.

Phemus raised his slimy index finger and and flicked it, making the lock click and the gate swing open with a smack. There were gasps and murmuring in the small crowd, it was obviously they were excited to enter the building. Either that, or they were ready to get away from Phemus. As the gate opened, Will, Dylan, and Dakota gasped as in front of them stood the massive castle. It was much, much bigger up close, it's black stone walls leading up to its dark, aqua spiral roofs for eternity, and it's huge stained glass windows emitting bright orange lights from inside. Owls and other flying creatures circled around it. They all stood in front of two giant, wooden double doors, with circular silver knobs on each, on either side were two dramatic, towering wooden carvings of two men, both unnoticeable from rot and weathering.

"Is that everyone?" Phemus asked, a dumb expression across his face, his hand still cradling the lit lantern.

Everyone nodded.

"Alright then, children, welcome to Ilvermorny." He said, raising his green arms and pulling the right door open, with loud squeaks. What they saw was a long, stretched corridor. It was entirely made of stone bricks, with red carpet put over it the floor. It was lit only by torches that hung from the wall, making the hall very dim. The small crowd of eleven year olds slowly walked inside, every single one of them looking about at the arched ceiling and the large black doors that littered the walls. "Leave your things 'ere along the wall, we'll get 'em put up in the dormitories durin' the sortin'."

The students did as they were told, the three boys telling their pets goodbye, Dylan making his farewell take a bit longer, petting the sleeping snake. Phemus then led the awestruck children to the end of the corridor, which showed a doorway that housed a long, stone spiral staircase. Phemus and the children walked up the long vertical shaft with some difficulty. (It had been hard to see with only torches lighting the area.) As they climbed, they all stayed silent, save for a few gasps. This made Will's mind drift again. He knew they were being led to this 'Sorting' ceremony, and he wasn't too keen on taking a test his first day to school. They eventually had gotten to the top of the staircase. They walked out of the shaft and into a large square room, still made of the same stone. The room had at least six different hallways, each housing their own dark corridor. The cyclops took one of the larger ones, and the children followed him.

The anticipation was rising in Will's body, and he didn't like it. Not one bit. They had been walking for what seemed like forever. When were they going to reach their destination?

They continued, slowly, down the hallway. At the very end, sat two wooden double doors, much like the ones they had seen at the entrance. As they neared the end, loud, muffled laughter and talking emitted from the other side of the doors. "The other kids must've taken the train here already." Will thought to himself. Hearing the joyous noises made Will slightly more comfortable.

Phemus opened the huge doors again, eyeing all the children, probably to see their reactions. And rightfully so. Deafening noise of conversations and laughter reached Will's eardrums.

His jaw had dropped to the floor. His bright, blue eyes widened at the sight. He had a feeling that the other kids around him did as well. An enormous, absurdly massive wood carved room stood before the children, making them seem like ants in contrast. You could've probably fit Mrs. Cabe's whole mansion in the thing. It had four, giant circular wooden tables, piled with fantastic smelling delicacies put a top it, with about thirty chairs squished around it, seating other dozens of children. The wooden walls were plastered with trophy plaques and moving paintings. On the arched ceiling, hung four distinct banners, over the hall, all colored to represent what Will had guessed were the houses. Yellow with a black outline of an eagle on it, Red with a black outline of a cat creature emblazoned upon it, Blue with a black outline of a snake on it, and Purple with the black outline of the creature Will had seen earlier on the gate's lock on it.

At the very back of the room, stood a large raised stone platform that had curved steps leading up to it and holding it up. On the platform sat a long dinner table, with many odd looking adults sitting upon it eyeing the first-years. Will thought these had must've been the teachers, and the platform must've been a way for the teachers to look down upon the students. Below the platform stood a larger than Dylan fireplace, crackling giant logs of firewood, making the cozy room even more inviting.

"And this is just the feast hall." Phemus grinned, his big eye on Will. Will attempted to smile back, but a loud voice was heard before he could.

"Ah! Our new students had arrived! Lovely." Said a man's voice, amplified by what seemed to his wand.

The whole hall and it's students went into a dead silence, and looked towards the huddled group of eleven year olds behind Phemus. The first-years heads craned up at the high table and saw that in the middle sat the man. He looked old, and had a very long, curly beard that hung to the floor. It was puffy and black and his nose covered by the bushy hair. He wore a pair of half-moon spectacles, with two twinkling green eyes behind them and a bald head. "If you would, please follow Mr. Phemus into the Sorting room, please. I'll be there to commence the ceremony shortly." He beckoned with his wand towards a castle door to the right of Phemus. He waved his giant clawed hands and led them through the door. Will didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay in the hall, eating and laughing with Dylan and Dakota, not have to take a stupid test he was sure to fail.

They all yet again walked down another spiral staircase. It was all lit with blue, flaming candles, casting the dark color on the student's faces as they marched down. Dakota pushed his way through a first-year girl to get to Will. "This place is crazy, isn't it?" He whispered towards Will as they stepped down the stairs, following the cyclops. "Yeah, it's something…" Will replied back, still nervous of what to come.

They were led into a completely circular room, with floating blue candles being the only light emitted to them. In the center of the room stood a raised stage, with small steps leading up to it. On the pillar, there were four statues forming a circle around it. A large bird, a snake in attack position with a purple stone placed in it's forehead, a large cat creature, and the same bizarre quilled human hybrid from earlier. The statues were oddly lifelike, engraved in a dark stone with fine details, so much so that the wings on the bird had each feather chiseled on it. Will walked by it, and could've sworn that the animals had watched him move. What kind of test was this going to be?

"Alrighty, first-years over there," Phemus bellowed, pointing the children to line up to the wall. They did as they were told, Will smushing himself between Dylan and Dakota.

"Hey, aren't you that guy that almost got caught in that Entrapment orb, back in Salem?" Trystan asked, peeking his head out from Dakota's round body, making him jump.

"Yeah, that was me…" Will said, slightly embarrassed.

"Wow, that's so cool… Wish I could've done that." He said back, excited.

"I guess it was pretty cool, wasn't it?" Will said back boastfully.

"Yeah, your name was in the paper, you didn't see it?"

"No, I didn't. Cool…"

"Stop being cocky." Dakota said as he flicked Will's ear.

"Alright," Phemus continued, leaning against the wall. "Now we wait…"

A few minutes passed. Will stood there, scrunched between his two friends in the blue candlelight. He thought back a couple days ago, how his mother waved him off. Everything seemed normal then. Only forty-eight hours later and he was standing in a room with wizards, a magic wand, and a cyclops. These were things that were in books and television, not in real life. What had he gotten himself into?

More minutes passed. He listened for the great noise being created from upstairs. What was taking that man so long? He wanted to get this all over with. He wanted to get this over with. He wanted to go back up to the hall and eat with the others.

"Hanging in there, man?" Dylan whispered to Will, still glaring at the cyclops from across the room.

"Uh… yeah. I'm just-- What are those statues? We're not gonna have to fight them, are we?" Will whispered back, now eyeing the blue-lit statues again.

"Ha. If we do, this wand'll definitely handle them." He said as he pulled his black wand from his jacket pocket. He looked at Will's irritated look he delivered.

"Oh-- and you, you'll do great. Just, don't worry about it." Dylan finished, quickly.

Will sighed.

"Look. I get that you're a little overwhelmed. But don't be. Me and Dakota have got your back. Stop stressing."

Dylan said as they listened at the applause rang from the upstairs hall.

"Thanks pal."

After what had to be thirty minutes, Will's legs started aching. The intense feeling he got from waiting slowly building, so much so he had to tap his feet and keep pushing up his glasses in order for him to not jump with excitement and nervousness. Suddenly, loud, tapping footsteps were heard echoing through the stone walls from the staircase. The students heads turned. Then, a pair of sparkling, green boots appeared from the stairs and the tall, bearded man followed, in a flowing, glittery cloak, along with a matching pointed hat atop his head. It was obvious he hadn't the best fashion sense.

"Hello, dearies," He said in a sweet, but croaky voice. "Welcome to Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I do hope that Phemus here has made your introduction an impressive one."

He raised his skinny hand at Phemus as if trying to sell him at an auction. He then waltzed over to the dozen or so students, his tall frame towering over them and casting a shadow on the wall they were standing on.

"I'm Headmaster Agilbert Fontaine. I'm in charge of this establishment, and I'm absolutely thrilled to have you all attend this year. I'm sure it will be a great one." He said as he raised his arms, gesturing towards all the children, who seemed a little more calm now. "Now, the time is late, and I have a slight feeling, that you are all deathly tired. So, let's commence the sorting."

Just then, above them, hung a large balcony, circling the room. The many students they had encountered in the dining room came pouring through small doorways, all piling around them. Eventually they got settled, and they looked down, their stares wandering over all the first-years. Will looked up along with Dylan and Dakota. No. No. Anything but this. Now, not only was he about to utterly embarrass himself, he was about to it front of the whole school.

"Excuse me, Headmaster Fontaine," Said a brave girl with dark brown hair, a stout nose, and the rosiest cheeks Will had ever seen. "What exactly, will we be doing?"

"Oh, dearie, I was just getting to that." Fontaine replied, winking his long eyelashes. "Long ago, when Ilvermorny was built, there existed four, unique houses, for which students to be placed in." As he did this, he waved his arm dramatically over towards the statues behind him. "Wampus, the body of Ilvermorny, the house that desires warriors and strength. Thunderbird, the soul of Ilvermorny, the house, that desires the adventurous and the brave," He had started pacing back and forth in the blue light. "The Pukwudgie, the house that craves healing and protectors, the heart of Ilvermorny."

"If I get put in that one I'm leaving…" muttered Dylan over Fontaine.

"...And lastly, the Horned Serpent, the house that welcomes intelligence, and clever wit, the mind of Ilvermorny. These are the houses you are about to be sorted in. They have never been wrong, not for a thousand years." He finished, finally ending his pace in the middle of the long line of children. Murmurs started up in the room, the first-years shaken and nervous-looking. "Now, when I call your name, you will step up onto the stage, and stand on the gordian knot symbol, and await for a statue to react. If more than one reacts, the choice of your house is yours. When finished, return upstairs to your correlated table." He said gleefully, walking past, eventually standing near the door leading upstairs. "And remember children... Choose wisely, and good luck."

Fontaine pulled out a large piece of parchment that dropped to his knees when he unraveled it, from his cloak pocket. He spoke loudly:

"Abby Arrington!"

The girl with the rosy cheeks from a moment ago walked from the line. The whole class watching her as she clumsily walked up the small steps, almost tripping over off the stage. Will thought she must've been nervous, and he couldn't blame her. She stepped upon the gordian knot, and awaited a response. She turned her small head at all the statues, a frantic look upon her face. Suddenly, the stone Thunderbird's mouth opened, and the wings fitted into its back, raised, it's feathers creaking.. The room erupted with clapping and applause.

"Ah! A new Thunderbird!" Said Fontaine loudly over the noise. Abby stepped off the stage and walked up the stairs quickly, hiding her face with her hand, flustered. "Ah. Very good, very good."

This pattern continued for a while; Some sorted into Thunderbird, some into Wampus, some with one statue reacting, some with two, until Fontaine uttered:

"Dakota Cabe!"

Will turned to see Dakota take a huge gulp. He looked prepared, his eyes fixed upon the gordian knot as he walked towards it in the blue lit room. He stood upon it, his posture straight and ordered. He narrowed his eyes, and after a moment, the stone serpent shewn it's sharp fangs, and the stone placed in its forehead glowed brightly. Dakota looked relieved, stepped down off the stage and smiled as the room broke out in whooping and cheering once again. Before going upstairs, he mouthed "Good luck!" and flashed a thumbs up.

"Dylan Cabe!" Will turned to his left to see Dylan, wearing his usual blank face, waltz up the gordian knot, not showing a sliver of emotion. He awaited a sign from the four statues, clenching his large fists as he did it. After a few minutes, the room began it's soft murmuring once again, as Dylan had not only one statue react, but two. The serpent's stone had glowed brightly once more, but the Wampus had also uttered it's own input. It's jaw opened roughly, showing a vibrant red color come from it's throat and a roar utter from it's stomach. The roar was loud enough that some students up above jumped back a bit.

"Mr. Cabe, you have received the option to choose. Please state which house you'd like to join." Fontaine said.

"Er...I'll go with...Wampus, I suppose." He replied, stepping down from the stage, heading upstairs as the room applauded him.

"Excellent."

The ceremony continued on until the final student left the room, leaving Will by himself.

"William Johnson!" Fontaine called, a slight crack in his voice as he said it.

Will walked through the now empty room, save for the students above, watching him. He climbed the steps, and stepped upon the gordian knot, showing the four animals on it. He shot a glance at Fontaine, his eyes seemingly grave now, and his face stern, with pursed lips. Will then looked away, and instead at the statues. They were indeed very lifelike, he felt as if they might spring alive and come after him at any moment. He turned, Dylan and Dakota stood above, amongst the many other students. He gave them a forced smile. He turned away and stood, his head sweating in the blue room. He could feel the hot glares hit him from the student's above on the balcony. Nothing was happening. How stupid must he had looked, standing there, not one statue reacting to him.

This is exactly what he had feared. Talk spread among the students above him:

"Is he even a wizard?"

"He's a No-Maj! A No-Maj has infiltrated the castle!"

"He broke it, he freaking broke it!"

"That's quite enough, all of you!" Fontaine bellowed as he raised his voice, going from nice to angry at the flip of a galleon. He started to walk towards the stage, then--

The Pukwudgie's bow was raised.

The Horned Serpent's stone glowed.

The Wampus' mouth emitted a loud roar.

The Thunderbird's wings beat and it opened its beak.

The room turned silent. The only thing that could be heard were the light flickering of the blue candles. Will stood frozen, shocked with a million goosebumps, his eyes wide and eyebrows raised, again feeling the bewildered faces of the other students reach him. He felt amazing. Special. Will turned his head quickly as soon as Fontaine spoke.

"You have, made all four statues react, Mr. Johnson," He said happily, looking joyful. "Congratulations! It's now your decision, to choose your house."

Will had been too busy being flabbergasted at what happened than thinking about what house he'd want to choose. With a short argument his brain, he'd spoke the words without knowing what he said.

"Er...Thunderbird, sir."

Will flustered, as if he couldn't go any less dramatic and wimpy as that.

"Thunderbird it is, then…" He said, smiling, peering through his glasses, still looking slightly puzzled.

Nevertheless, the room yet again, for a final time, erupted into a thunderous applause, yells and cheers ringing through his ears. He stepped off the stage, starting towards the stairs, before the Headmaster pulled him aside.

"Would you mind, coming to my office for some tea tomorrow after classes, Mr. Johnson?" He asked, calmly.

Will, unsure of why, replied:

"Sure, yeah. No problem."

Chapter 6 - Educators of the Arts

Dinner was delicious. After Dylan and Dakota took a seat with him at one of large round tables, it's safe to say they stuffed face. The tables were packed with food, from fantastic smelling pizza, fresh chicken legs, salads, grilled burgers and much, much more. It had to have been one of the best meals Will had ever eaten. "Wow. Making those statues move like that, crazy stuff. How'd you do it?" Dakota asked, reaching for a cup of gravy with his mashed potatoes."I...I don't know. It felt awesome, though.." Will replied back, still munching on a half-eaten chili dog.

What made it better was that the students that sat with them didn't bully him like at his old school. They were joyous, excited and happy to know him. He even met a fellow Thunderbird, a fourth-year, Isaiah Harris. A boy with short, slicked brown hair and a small nose and a small, chinstrap goatee.

"I'm captain of the Quadpot team," He said over a mouthful of chocolate pudding. "You should totally join, we're looking for new people. And anyone who can make four of those things react are okay in my book."

They all happily ate, conversing and laughing in the massive hall, until Fontaine spoke again from the teacher's stand.

"Now that we've been sorted and our bellies full, I will now introduce our head of houses," She said, as the many student's heads turned from their food and looked upon her.

He beckoned a man to the right of her to stand up. He was a very young-looking man, with short, brown hair and a small, bushy beard. He wore a very baggy cloak. "This, is Professor Adameus Wamsley, teacher of transfiguration, history of magic, and choir. Head of Horned Serpent." He said loudly. The hall erupted in a much more deafening applause than in the sorting room. The very short man stood up,(Dylan snorted a mouthful of tea at the sight of the man's height), took a bow, and sat back down in his chair.

Fontaine then signaled another teacher to stand on the left. An absurdly tall man that towered over Fontaine, with a very round head, slicked back dark hair, two hauntingly grey eyes, and a grin that reached ear to ear, both rows of yellow teeth matching his dirty, patterned robes.

"This, is Professor Nicolas Vexx, teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Ancient Runes. Head of House Wampus." He finished, as the hall began clapping again, much quieter this time. Vexx's soulless eyes wandered the hall, his grin fixed upon his face, and then took a seat. Will had looked over to notice that Dylan had been clapping loudly. Fontaine signaled yet again, for a very plump woman, who barely fit in her chair, to stand. The gleaming chandelier that hung from the hall ceiling gave Will a better view of her. She had very short grey hair, a pair of glasses that made her eyes appear bigger than they were, and a hot-pink bonnet wrapped over her small head, with matching robes. "Meet, Professor Morrigan Barkrich! Teacher of charms, head of Pukwudgie!" Fontaine said with a smile. After the patterned applause had finished, she beckoned one last teacher. A very pretty looking woman, with extensive makeup put upon her, stood up. She had a very stern expression on her face, her dark, small blue eyes scanning all the hall. Her auburn hair let down across her aqua robes.

"And last, but most certainly not least, Professor Sabine Blackwood, teacher of potions, and head of Thunderbird!" Fontaine finished, his green eyes gleaming in the bright light. The claps started again, Will eyeing as he did it, his eyes, who returned the stare. Will turned his head back to his food, then Fontaine spoke yet again:

"These teachers are your leaders, children. You will do as they say. They are my second in command, and there is no greater source of authority than that. Now," He continued, his wand still put on his neck, making his voice amplify. "You will find your dormmates and schedules put upon you… Now."

As soon as he said this,the piles of food that had once been there were replaced with parchment that appeared in front of each of the many students. Will quickly shot a glance at it. His classes for tomorrow consisted of Defense, potions, and transfiguration in the morning. Before he could read any further…

"Will! We got too lucky!" Dakota exclaimed, "We've got morning classes together tomorrow and we all three are dormmates!"

"Fantastic!" Will replied, eyeing his schedule.

"Now. Remember, The Black Forest is off-limits, and you are not to leave your dorms after dark. Now, you will head to your dorms. Classes start at eight o'clock sharp! Don't be late! Follow your heads of houses to your dorms, children!" Fontaine finished, stepping down from his stand and taking the middle seat along the teacher's table while the other teachers stepped down and began herding the large crowd of students out the double doors. Will was jostled and pushed between children much older to him, until happening upon Professor Blackwood, who was directing children down the many stone hallways.

"Professor, er… I was wondering where Spire 17 was?" He asked, slightly nervous of the tall teacher.

"Go on ahead that hallway and down the stairs, it'll lead you to Spire 17." She said, pointing her wand into a nearby stone hallway.

"Thanks."

He, Dylan, and Dakota did as she told, continuing down the hallway and happening upon a large, vertical room with a staircase along the walls that continued for forever. Which was surprising as the large stained glass windows had almost took them up completely, giving the three a very good view of the night sky outside.

"This must be the spire, let's go down and get to the dorm." Dylan said as he started toward the long staircase.

They continued down the stairs and found a large stone door with a seventeen emblazoned upon it. They opened the door and found something fantastic.

A giant stained glass window sat in the very middle wall of a completely oval room with comfy brown chairs and couches that were moved around a crackling small fireplace,with a table full of sweets in the middle. The room also had small writing desks and bookshelves placed around the curved stone walls as well. Across from the fireplace were two large, long steps that led to a small stage on which four beds sat. They were all cozy and warm-looking, Will had to resist the temptation of flopping on it. They had fluffed pillows and on them sat the boys' pets and books. They all greeted their pets and settled their things for their first day tomorrow. They all placed their wands on the end table by each bed, and changed into their pajamas, finally getting snug.

Soon after, Isaiah, the fourth-year, appeared through the doorway.

"Hey, got put in here, no other spots open. Hope you guys don't mind." He said as he scratched his chin and dropped his bag on a nearby chair.

"Oh, no not at all. We were just getting ready for bed." Will said, reading a copy of 'The Goblin War', he had picked off a bookshelf.

"Awesome. I've got some, er, Quadpot stuff to handle downstairs, so I'll see you tomorrow?" He asked as he started towards the door.

"Yeah, for sure."

He left the room in a fast walk. As soon as they heard the door close, Will spoke, putting his book in his lap.

"Guys. Headmaster Fontaine told me to go to her office after classes tomorrow."

"What?" Dylan asked, his snake curled on the end table next to him. "It's not even your first day."

"I know. I think that it might be something to do with that Entrapment Orb back in Salem. Or those statues."

"I wouldn't worry. Just do it and see what he says, he seems okay." Dakota chimed in, stroking Mist, who had made herself at home, sleeping.

"Right. Well, good night."

"Night."

"Night."

Will couldn't sleep. Even though he had been in the coziest place he could've been in, he stayed wide awake. The thoughts just couldn't leave his mind, and it's not like Dylan's snores helped. Why had the headmaster wanted to see him? Was he in trouble? Maybe it was how all four of those statues moved? Who set that orb? Was he in the school? Who killed that wand maker?

These thoughts, the snores, and the soft wind of outside, eventually drifted him off into sleep, awaiting his first day…

Chapter 7 - First Steps

The three boys woke up early the next morning to find a few things. Isaiah had been missing from bed, his sheets unmade. Dawn light poured through the large window to show three robes lying on the nearby couch. They hustled out of bed and into them, each correlating the houses. Dylan wore a sleek black cloak, with the trimming being red. Dakota's and Will's were more or less the same, except that the trimming was blue and yellow respectively, and it was much, much baggier on Will's.

"Why are they making us wear these dumb things? Pointless." Dylan said, looking up and down upon his new school uniform, trying it on.

"Be a bit more grateful. I could be some ugly color. Like cranberry." Dakota retorted, gathering his books in hand.

"Whatever guys, let's head down for breakfast at the hall, I'm starving." Will said truthfully, grabbing his wand off the table and petting Brody goodbye.

They all exited the dorm, eventually entering the dining hall and taking a seat next to a couple of second-year Thunderbird girls. The tables were again jam-packed with food, but this time with breakfast items.

"So, what class is after breakfast?" Dylan asked through a mouthful of biscuit.

"Er… transfiguration with Professor Wamsley." Dakota replied as he went down the list of his schedule.

"Boring. When's DADA?"

"Second."

"Excellent."

They ate merrily, Will slightly less so as he was still a bit nervous about his meeting with the headmaster later that day.

"I hope you all have had a good breakfast, now it is time for your first classes. Please exit the doors and head to them immediately! No dilly-dallying!" Fontaine spoke from the high up table.

Will, Dylan, and Dakota entered the sea of students and teachers that piled out of the hall, all going in different directions. They walked, attempting to find the transfiguration classroom. They eventually found it, only getting lost twice, much to Dakota's annoyance.

The room was a room a few floors above their dorm, it's entrance being a uninteresting small, black door near a large courtyard. What was inside, however, was a different story. A small room with desks fit for three lined the walls, and in the middle were hanging cages full of animals, raccoons, mice, birds, and turtles. The room was very bright, as its windows had shed the early morning light that poured through. The trio all took seats in a desk, getting out their transfiguration books and quills to begin the first lesson. Soon, Professor Wamsley's short frame entered through the door, and stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by the animals.

"Good morning, class!" He said gleefully.

Some of the class groaned, some replied back the same.

"You won't need your textbooks today, so put those up," He said, then Will and the rest of the class put the book in their sacks. "I wanted to try something a bit more exciting. Now, tell me. What is, transfiguration?" He said as he began pacing and scratching his beard. Dakota's arm shot up so quick it almost knocked Dylan out of his seat.

"Yes, Mr. Cabe?"

"Transfiguration is the art of turning one object into another. The bigger or more complex the object is, the harder it is to transfigure." Dakota replied, full of confidence.

"Indeed! Very good, very good. That's why I wanted to try…" Wamsley said as he dug in a rather dusty chest on his desk. "...Something a little different."

He now had a dozen or so goblets in his arms, walking around the room handing them to the boys and girls, all a little worried looking. He came around and passed the goblets to Will, before returning to his position at the middle of the room.

"The first thing you should know about me, I'm a hands-on type of teacher. And now that you all have your hands- on your goblets, I want to practice a few transfiguring spells. Pull out your wands everyone." He punned, chuckling as he did it. Dakota was the only one that laughed.

The class simultaneously pulled their wands from their coat pockets and held them in hand. As Will did this, he noticed a familiar face sitting from the desk across the room.

"Psst! Guys, isn't he that Wyatt kid?" Will whispered, pointing his wand subtly to the greasy haired boy across from them.

"Yeah it is. He got held back like four times. I'm gonna hex him if he tries anything." Dylan whispered back, his eyes narrowing towards the boy.

"Do you all have your wands? Good. Now pay close attention." Wamsley said.

He pulled his wand from his cloak and held his own goblet in his palm. He pointed the wand at it, swished it in the air and said:

"Vera Verto!"

A small burst of blue light twinkled from his wand, and before the whole class, the goblet morphed into a small, baby grey mouse, calmly sniffing the air in Wamsley's palm. Gasps ensued.

"Did you see that?"

"Woah!"

"Bloody hell!"

They were all first-years so it was reasonable. Will shot a glance at Wamsley, who looked slightly amused.

"Now, I want you all to try it. If it doesn't work, don't worry. It's only the first day. Remember, Vera Verto!"

He gestured for the class to try. Cries rang out.

"Vera Perto!"

"Hera Verto!"

Will watched as a few children had achieved it, but either their goblets had a tail attached, or the mouse's legs still resembled a stand. Wyatt's and Trystan's had only turned furry; Dakota and Dylan had already attempted it, Dakota's goblet turning a very pale, grey color, and Dylan exploding his. Will looked towards his own, waved his wand, and said:

"Vera Verto!"

The blue twinkle appeared, and the goblet shifted into a perfectly well, small grey mouse, who had begun sniffing Will's robes.

"Well done, Mr. Johnson, well done! Say, you were the one who made the four statues move, yeah? I'd expect nothing less!"

Will's lips turned into a gleeful smirk.

"How in the heck did you manage to do that, I did the same thing!" Dakota complained as they walked their way out of class and to the DADA classroom.

"I don't know, it just happened. Maybe I'm just better than you at it?"

"No. No there's no way, I studied these books back to front last night."

They walked through the crowded stone hallways and past the courtyard, eventually ending up three levels below, in a damp and musty dungeon. The classroom was very dim, the windows shown a dark blue color from outside. It was apparent that it was built under the water. They all took seats at the round tables and got out their textbooks. Soon, the tall, black-haired, yellow-teethed man walked through the door, a dirty black cloak billowing behind him.

"Hello, class…" he said airily, his neck hunched. "I am Professor Vexx. It's nice...to meet you all."

The teacher's fixed grin unnerved Will, and it sounded like he talked through gritted teeth.

"Please, if you would, turn to page twelve. I would like someone to tell me...what are the dark arts?" He said, his blank, grey eyes looming over the children. To Will's surprise, the hand that shot up was Dylan's and a few others, including Trystan.

"Mr. Cabe?"

"The Dark Arts are a forbidden type of magic, that include illegal curses and hexes."

"That's...surprising… not many students are able to tell me their first...day."

Dylan stayed silent and stone-faced, but Will could've sworn he had seen a hint of a smirk twitch.

"I would like for us to practice a basic attack and defense spell… something to… get us started." Vexx paced around the room for a moment, the children nervous out of their wits.

"Pull out your wands, students…" He said, his grin glimmering in the candle light.

The class did as they were told.

"AH!"

The whole class turned heads to see what Vexx yelped about. His gaze was fixed to Dylan's wand.

Dylan look confused.

"Mr. Cabe…. What… is that core?"

"It's a… dual core. Grim claw and basilisk fang." Dylan replied, staring at his dumbfounded classmates rather than Vexx himself.

"My word…forgive me…may I see it?"

"Er… sure…"

The teacher reached out his long, snake-like hands and twisted the wand between his long fingernails.

"Extraordinary… forgive me… my dear boy…"

Vexx placed Dylan's wand back into his hands.

"It's just… extraordinary. Erm, Sorry. Er, let us continue our lesson." He said as he paced the room once more, still gazing upon Dylan.

He looked about, his neck swiveling, finally landing on Trystan.

"You boy. Come here." The timid, very tan boy, a Thunderbird, stood up and walked into the center of the dungeon.

"And you? Mr. Cabe?"

Dylan got up eagerly, almost jogging to the center of the room. The class watched as the two boys stood facing one another.

"You two… will be our little contestants. Now. I want Mr. Cabe here to cast an attack spell, and Mr. Doyle here, a defense…"

The two boys stared at each other, Trystan showing much more fear than the other.

"Mr. Cabe, I would like to use the spell, Levicorpus, and y--"

Vexx's speech was immediately lost to Dakota's outburst.

"Sir, we're not supposed to learn curses until second-year. Plus, don't you think dueling first lesson is a bad idea?"

"Nonsense. My job is to prepare you for the dark arts, not teach you a simple jelly-legs jinx." He snapped, his face only an inch from Dakota's, his smile still equipped.

"Now, before I was so rudely interrupted," He looked at the seriously offended Dakota, "Doyle, you will block this curse with a blocking hex."

"But, aren't you going to tell me the spell? Sir?" Trystan asked, his yellow lined cloak covering his mouth in nervousness.

"My word, how are you in Thunderbird? Protego. Now, wands at the ready."

The two raised their wands at each other. The class watched in excitement.

"Alright, alright, Mr. Cabe, whenever you're ready…"

It seemed as if the man had been more keen to help Dylan with wand position and flicking than Trystan.

Dylan pointed his wand, still stone-faced and said:

"Levicorpus!"

Dylan's body shot backward so fast it happened before Will had even registered. Trystan, on the other hand, was dangling upside down in mid-air, as if some invisible hook had him held tight from the ankle. After a few moments, he fell, falling on the stone cold floor in a heap.

"...Interesting, Mr.Cabe, it seems as if your wand is a bit too powerful for you…"

Dylan got up from the cracked table on the floor that he had knocked over, dizzy.

They soon left the class and heard many comments in the hallway as they made their way to the hall for lunch.

"Did you see what that guy did? And the teacher let him do it?"

"Why the heck would we be learning curse spells in first-year?"

"That professor's out of his mind. I'm dropping."

Chapter 8 - Meeting with the Master

"Trystan's a bit shy isn't he?" Dylan said as they exited the cold dungeon and headed for lunch.

"A bit. But he's foreign, so give him some credit." Will replied.

"I'll give him credit when he can properly block a spell."

The three waded through the crowded halls, settling down in the packed dining hall and sat next to a few third-year Wampuses, who were discussing some sort of lurking monster…

"I can't believe that professor's teaching curse spells already! It's only the first day! He's crazy!" Dakota said, dramatically, sounding seriously offended.

Dylan barked out a laugh as he reached over for a bowl of pudding. "I think it's great. That guy knows what he's talking about."

"I don't know about that," Will said. "But the way he snapped at you was probably the best thing ever, Dakota.

This made Dakota deliver a menacing glare against both of them.

"Well, I think the way Dylan flew across the room was pretty good as well." He said.

"Shut up." Dylan huffed.

They all laughed.

Not soon after, Isaiah joined them at the table, his usually gelled and combed hair sticking out in different directions.

"Heard about that leg jinx from a couple of first years, yeah, that teacher is a different one." He said, sipping a goblet of corn juice as if he hadn't drank anything in weeks. "Say Will, Quadpot tryouts are in a few weeks, feel like joining?"

"Uh, I don't really know anything about it." Will replied, startled by how quickly Isaiah finished his juice.

"No worries, I can teach you. I'll go ahead and put your name on the list."

He got up from the table and exited the hall door leading outside.

"Hey Will, aren't you going to Fontaine's office after lunch?" Dylan asked eyeing the headmaster at the upper table.

Will let out a worried sigh. "Yeah, I suppose."

The lunch period ended rather quickly. Will was in no rush to leave, pretending to tie his tennis shoes as the hall emptied; This was a bad idea, as the last student left, Fontaine stood at the double doors, waiting for him, telling him to come with him.

He followed quickly, Fontaine's long beard and cloak billowing behind him.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but where are we going?"

"My office, I've got a few things I think you should know about."

What things? The orb? Statues? His heart raced faster and faster as they continued. Fontaine had seemed calm and collected, just like at the ceremony. They both walked up, Will counted, six flights of empty stone stairs as they reached what looked to be the top floor. They walked towards an ordinary brown door that sat in the middle of a stone wall.

"In here, if you would."

He opened the small door to show a blue, purple swirling portal, full of emitted stars.

"Don't be nervous, just step through. It might jerk you a bit though, best be careful."

Will stood, startled as he watched the man walk through, his body shifting and changing, before he disappeared. Will stood for a moment in the empty hallway, before mustering up the courage to walk through. He stepped in, and felt the weirdest sensation; His feet left the stone floor. His body parts felt as if they were going in and out of numbness. His sight was blurred and his head shaking and waving as if an ocean wave had taken him in. Eventually the sensation stopped. In front of him he saw a place he'd never seen before.

A magnificent looking beach, it's light blue waves flowing on the orange sand; and it's lush, green palms creating a thick bed of plant-life behind him, and the pink sunset in the distance making him feel at home.

Will pushed up his glasses and shifted his shoes in the sand.

"H-Headmaster? Where are we?"

"The Caribbean, it looks like. Interesting." He said casually as if nothing happened. He stared out to sea. Will looked out too, and saw a few boats out in the distance.

"I-Is this your office?"

"More or less. You see, my office is rarely the same."

"What do you mean?"

"My office is enchanted, Mr. Johnson. It shows the place that we most want to be. A place where we feel safe and protected. Even a little magic goes a long way." He said, his bushy beard dancing on the ocean breeze. "It seems as if this lovely place is where you would most like to be, no?"

The place had seemed perfect, it brought Will immediate peace and tranquil, and the salty smell gave him a sense of hope.

"Yeah… It's perfect."

"Here, take a seat."

Fontaine pulled out his wand and conjured two comfy chairs and sat them in the sand. Will sat in the chair, facing Fontaine, who had done the same.

"Are you enjoying Ilvermorny?"

"Yeah, it's great." Will said back.

"Good. Quite a fine little establishment, no? It's been built for thousands of years…

Tell me, Mr. Johnson. Why Thunderbird?" He said, his shiny, bald head pointed towards the sea. Will was taken aback by the question.

"I, er, don't really know, it just happened." He said, his voice cracking.

"Mm. It was a wise choice. The last time those four statues moved simultaneously were in the years before I was even born. It's a truly special feat." He said, as the waves crashed against the sand, slipping away only to repeat this process. "They say having the all four statues move is the mark of a true wizard."

"I don't think I'm that good of a wizard, Professor."

"Mm. You know, I was never really a fan of doubt, Mr. Johnson. Doubt are for the ones afraid of moving forward. Besides, I know you can be a cocky one. Never let that get to your head." He said, eyeing the ocean.

"Your father was a Thunderbird, you know."

"You knew my dad?"

"Oh yes, quite the impulsive one he was. A spitting image in front me, I'm afraid." He chuckled.

"Sir, is my father okay? I haven't heard a word from him."

He sighed wearily.

"Your father's been busy. He's had most of his free time taken up by his work."

"Where does he work?" Will asked, most curious to know.

Fontaine raised a bushy, black eyebrow.

"The MACUSA. Didn't you know?

Will shook his head.

"Mm. He works as an Auror assistant. Helps Dark wizard catchers in their endeavors." He said, and then he saw the confused look that had spread across Will's face. "People who use illegal curses and such. That sort of thing."

The ocean's waves rippled and the plants behind them blew in the wind.

"My father works as a dark wizard catcher?" Will said, shocked. The news that his father had worked in the Congress this whole time had made Will register in awe.

"Oh no, not exactly. It's more of a paperwork and files type of work… I figured it was about time to tell you… But that's not particularly what I wanted to talk to you about, Mr. Johnson." He said, his face still concentrated on the water.

Will was worried why Fontaine refused to look at him, he looked as if he was thinking hard about something. Something big.

"I heard about the Orb in Salem. A rather brave act, I think." He said, a warm smile forming under his beard.

"I-I broke the law, Professor." Will stuttered, surprised at his calmness on the matter.

"That is true, but it was still a clever idea, quick thinking on your part…. Merlin was a rather clever wizard too if I recall, battled that three-toed Barferblay…nasty thing…"

"Professor, I don't mean to be rude, but, what is it that you want to tell me?" He said as politely as he could've.

"Impatient, like your father, I see…. I didn't know how to tell you this lightly." He said softly, his voice unwavering like the ocean before them. Will liked the fact that Fontaine's calmness wasn't dwindling.

"Have you heard the Hall of Prophecies, Mr. Johnson?"

"Erm, No sir."

He continued.

"It's a room deep in England's magical government, houses all kinds of futures and outcomes." -His eyes became twinkling, his gaze not leaving the ocean- "The day you were born, a man snuck into this long forgotten room, and he found a Prophecy that said he would become "The Cleanser of The Wizarding World.""

"Headmaster, why are you telling me this--"

"Because," He said nicely, now running his fingers through his long, bushy beard. "The Prophecy also included you. It said you would have to try and stop him. Now, I know this is hard for you to take in--" He said as if he had noticed the ever growing confusion that had spread across Will's face. "-- But there is someone out there, a cultist, a follower, that has targeted you, Will."

Will's heart felt like it had been squashed and stretched a million times over. Prophecy? He continued before Will could process anything.

"When you were born, the MACUSA had an anonymous letter come in from an unknown individual, it said that you were in great danger. That he was going to kill you when the time was right. We don't know who he is. We don't know why." He said, looking at Will, who had complete and utter sadness in his face. Will sat on the chair, in the happiest place he could've been, his head spinning, his mind full with questions, and his emotions flaring with confusion, fear, and depression. He stood up quickly, dazed and lightheaded. He shook his head, awestruck. His mind had jumped to the worst of places, he was planning to leave the school, to go back to his mom and dad, to get away from this crazy place. He didn't belong here. What prophecy? Why was this crazy old man telling him this? Before he knew it--

"I… I think I'll go now." He said, his voice shaking.

"I don't blame you, Will." Fontaine said, still looking at him with the face of sheer solemness.

He turned and ignored Fontaine, headed for the door that sat in the middle of the sand, nothing attached.

His mind was spinning and he was struggling to keep himself from falling face first into the sand, as his body had become weak and unwilling. He clumsily hobbled to the door as fast as possible, before Fontaine had stopped him again.

"Will," He said, soothingly. "Tis nothing but a hoax. You are safe here. Trust me. If he has not attacked by now, then I have every right to believe he is most likely dead."

Will didn't stop walking. He left through the door, leaving Fontaine alone in the paradise full of the vast ocean.

Chapter 9 - The Midnight Venture

The next few weeks passed without incident. Will had told only Dylan and Dakota about his meeting with Fontaine. Dylan had tried to get Will to leave the castle in search of the follower, and Dakota had attempted to get Will to go to the library and learn all of the protective spells he could to prepare himself.

Will had instead decided to trust Fontaine's words, as they did make him feel calmer. He had also not heard one word from his father nor his mother, making this calmness dwindle. The news hadn't come easy. Will poured through the countless libraries in the castle, searching up all the writing he could on the Hall. He hadn't found much, only the bare minimum of what Fontaine told him.

Not only did Will have to contemplate and worry about the dangers put upon him, he also had to struggle with the plentiful amount of homework his professors had ordered. He had a thirteen page paper on how to properly transfigure a wombat into a beach chair due in a week, and he had a novel's worth packet of questions over how to create fever-freeze potion from Blackwood due the next day. They sat in the fire-lit dorm working on it in the dead night, the rainstorm building up outside.

Dylan had been sitting at one of the nearby desks, half asleep.

"This potion packet is actually the bane of my existence." He said faintly, his quill falling out of his hands.

"Blackwood's too strict with this. How did Dakota get his finished already?" Will said, gesturing towards the sleeping boy.

"I don't know…" Dylan said, getting up from the desk and plopping on the couch. "Hey, you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess. It's just, not everyday you're told you're being hunted by some crazy cult member." Will said wearily, resting his head on the pillow. "Have you heard about that prophecy stuff?"

"No, but my mom's told me stories. She said it was built a long time ago."

"If only I knew more… Fontaine was too vague. I think he was trying to hide something."

"We might be able to find something in one of the libraries, there's gotta be something about the Hall in one of those old books." Dylan said wonderingly, rising from the couch and going to open his trunk.

"I've already checked-- Dylan, what are you doing?" Will asked as Dylan dug in his trunk, throwing things out and into the floor with loud clanks and bangs against the stone floor of the dorm.

"I know-- it's in here somewhere… Oh, there we go."

He picked up and held in his hand an old, weathered piece of parchment, with rips and tears on the lining. It seemed to have crude drawings of the castle's hallways and floors, all written in ink.

"What is that?" Will asked, tilting his head at the paper.

"It's a map of the castle I found in Isaiah's trunk." He nodded his head at the boy's empty bed. "He's hardly ever here anyways, thought I might snag it. Thought it could be useful."

"Why would Isaiah have that?!" Will said a bit loud, then covering his mouth with his hands as to not wake Dakota.

"I don't know. But this map has shortcuts I didn't even know existed." Dylan looked down at the map. "It even has one to a headmaster library. Y'know, Fontaine's personal library. I bet you all the info we need is there. We can go in the morning."

"The morning? No. We've gotta go now."

The room went silent for a second.

"...Why?"

"Because we could be dead by morning, and to be frank, I'm not too fond of that outcome. The faster we find what Fontaine's hiding, the better." Will said after throwing his blankets and awakening Brody from his sleep.

"You don't think you're being a little dramatic?"

"I'm being as dramatic as necessary."

After Will had practically drug Dylan out of the dorm room, they headed towards the supposed restricted library, which Will was a bit skeptical of such a thing. They exited the dorm room, and entered the cold, empty castle halls. The corridors were dark, save for a few dimly-lit candles that hadn't burnt out yet. They set off in search of the library, getting yelled at by a few talking paintings on the walls and listening to the ridiculous storm brewing outside the castle.

They must've wandered the castle for ages looking for it, passing by room after room. Will watched along as Dylan's eyes barely ever left the map, walking forward, silent and trance-like, both silent and careful in their venture. Will knew in fact that if they were caught out of dorm after ten, they would face detention; or worse.

They eventually ended up near, ironically, Fontaine's office, at one of the larger double doors that had been placed near it. Dylan stopped and looked up at the tall wooden doors.

"The map says it's in this room, Will."

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

They both looked back and forth down the hall for signs of any wandering souls, and to their relief, the only thing lurking was a stray cat. They both attempted to open the doors, and to Will's non-astonishment, the door remained locked.

"Y'know, in hindsight, I feel like I should've seen this coming." Will said.

Dylan let out a small chuckle and pulled his wand from his robes. He pointed it at the lock and said:

"Alohomora!"

The lock on the door made a satisfying clicking noise, alerting the boys that the door had in fact, been unlocked. Will gasped.

"Yeah, I know." Dylan said confidently, flicking his wand lazily.

"How'd you do that?"

"I… read about it. It's an unlocking charm."

"And you did it that easily? I mean, ya didn't even fly back this time."

"Yeah. It was a simple one…"

"Ok, whatever. Let's just get in here, quick."

The two opened the doors in a combined effort, opening a passageway that led to something that made both of them stare in astonishment. A room that reached taller that the dining hall, filled to the brim with lavish, polished bookcases, with books stacked rather neatly on the shelves on either side of the large room. A gigantic, oversized light bulb, bigger than a horse, hung from the ceiling, giving Will a fantastic view of the room front of him.

"Wow. Like... Wow." He said, at a loss for words.

"Yeah, okay, we can stand in awe later. Just keep in mind we are facing expulsion, Will."

"Right, yeah, okay."

He quickly walked through the book aisles, checking to make sure they were indeed alone, fortunately, this was the case. The boys took off in different directions, with Dylan almost slipping on the polished checkered floor. He caught his balance and began to look for books that contained valuable information. Will had decided to do the same, even though he felt a bit overwhelmed at the many books he had to choose from.

"Will?," Dylan asked from across the room, his voice ricocheting off the windowless room. "What exactly, erm, are we supposed to be looking for?"

"Anything about that Hall or that Prophecy. I need more answers."

"This is the last time I let you drag me into something like this, Will."

"Doubt it."

Will scoured the shelves, opening and closing, skimming and searching. Surely there had to be something related to what Fontaine was talking about. His eyes wandered around the many books, frantic, he picked one up. It was something about Durmstrang Academy. He picked up another. Herbological Medicines. Another. Orc Anatomy through the Ages. At this point it had seemed hopeless.

Will and Dylan had been in the library going on an hour, with nothing to show for it. It had seemed as if they both emptied the library, not a single word of the prophecy. Dylan let out a groan of irritation.

"Nothing. All these books, and we've found nothing." He said.

"No. There's gotta be something--Something we can use--" Will paused and look towards the back of the library. A large desk, taller than Phemus, sat surrounded by piles of parchment and books. His face morphed into a frown and a shade of bleak white when he noticed who was sitting behind the desk, staring right at him.

"Er… Professor Fontaine…" Will said, again at a loss for words.

The Headmaster rose from the chair, a calm look flashed across his long face. He stayed silent, so Will took the opportunity and tried to explain himself, but before he could--

"It was me, Professor. I made him come here. I wanted to see if he could help me find a book on Silly-Scale potion." Dylan said hastily, stepping in front of Will. His face didn't waver.

"Oh? I highly doubt that, Mr. Cabe." Fontaine said, his face still relaxed. Will stayed inwardly grateful towards Dylan as the two stayed silent. He continued.

"I know you two are feebly attempting to find information about the Prophecy." He said in a surprisingly sweet voice, his green eyes dashing back and forth between Will and Dylan. "The only book about the Hall is here." He waved his long fingers as a ruddy book flew from his desk gently, and landed in his palm. He then walked towards the both of them, looking down upon the boys.

"If you both are indeed adamant about learning information that I'm trying to to tell you is useless," -He then held out the book rather lazily- "Then go ahead."

They both stared at the book. Will shot a glance at Dylan. He had an ugly frown upon his face, looking skeptical. Will grabbed the book from his hands, not taking his eye off Fontaine.

"I knew you'd come," Fontaine said, looking at him. "Just a small feeling I had."

"Professor, I don't understand. Why aren't you mad?" Will spoke up, feeling as if it was a risky question.

"How could I be, Will? I don't expect you to be completely okay with what I told you."

"So, you're not angry?"

"Oh no. In fact, I'm glad." This made Dylan's eyebrows raise. "You see, there comes a time when we take matters in our own hands. That's the mark of true determination. It seems as if you're taking this dire situation into your own hands, Mr.Johnson. I've nothing but the upmost respect for that." He finished, smiling. "Now, go read up." He said, turning back around to his desk.

"Professor?" Will asked. He turned back around, listening.

"I'm scared."

"I'd consider you a fool if you weren't."

"What do I do?"

"You trust me. You are safe here. Nothing's going to happen, I won't let it."

"Thank you, Professor."

"Now go. Educate yourself, and off to bed. Both of you."

These words made Will considerably more calm in his situation. He was gaining trust for the old Headmaster, slowly but surely.

The two dashed back to the dorm in the night with the book, finally getting comfortable in pajamas and taking care to not wake the still sleeping Dakota. They plopped on the couch in a hurry, and read the title:

The Secrets of The Ministry of Magic: Volume 4: The Hall of Prophecies.

Chapter 10 - Quadpot Tryouts

The weeks leading up to December had been eventful. Will had memorized the book that Fontaine had given him from his library. He read it every night, toiling and agonizing over the book, making sure he hadn't missed any details.

Will had everything permanently painted in his mind, every detail (at least what was written) the Hall. It was engraved in Will's head. He learnt of how the Prophecies were created, the Seers, the great, crystal balls, and how the Hall was totaled by some guy named Larry Hopper or something like that.

He had gone to the lengths of taking weekly meetings with Fontaine, which Fontaine had persisted in doing. They would sit on the beach. Talk about what Will was chosen to face; He still believed that this cultist had been nothing but bluff, but did it just so Will would know in the future of what he might be up against. He had also kept this a secret from the school, but Will still kept Dylan and Dakota informed of the situation.

This was made much easier as he begun to receive letters from his father and mother again, after not hearing from them in months. They comforted him and told him everything was going to be okay. His father even came to check up on him, along with Mrs. Cabe, who had been worried sick. Being surrounded by all the compassion and comfort had made him feel much better than he did when he was told, and the weeks continued on as if they're weren't even a problem at all.

This didn't mean Will wasn't completely stress-free. The work leading up to Christmas was becoming exceedingly difficult. Vexx was still teaching hard to remember curses, and Blackwood and her unfair grading was prominent as ever, not to mention Wamsley's daily quizzes on transfigure spells were seriously becoming tiring, and at this point Will was dreading his later years in school, having a foreboding feeling of dread and lack of sleep in his near future.

Will also was being talked into trying out for Quadpot by Isaiah, whose mental and physical health had seriously taken a toll, as every time Will had seen him, he had scars and crazy hair, with his skin turned into a mute white. The tryouts were only in a mere week, and Will had his doubts of Isaiah being a capable captain. He had passed it off as just difficult school work, but he had a feeling it wasn't.

Dakota had been performing ridiculously well in school, getting top marks in all of his classes, and had even been moved to a few more advanced subjects, like Ancient Runes, a subject Will was more than happy to miss out on. The only one both Dakota and Will both had lacked in was Defense Against the Dark Arts, in which Vexx had chosen Dylan as his favorite student.

Dylan had also begun to disappear more often, skipping lunches and breaks, which Will found increasingly suspicious. He had asked him time and time again but the only thing he could get out of him was a "I was reading."

This had made Will become more increasingly suspicious of Vexx, and as the days went by, Will noticed him become more and more disgruntled, handing out bookwork about Wampa Bats and Hinky Slugs almost every other class from what looked to be sheer laziness….

"Headmaster?" Will asked softly as he looked out onto the familiar, vast sea. He let out a short hum which signaled for Will to continue.

"A few weeks ago, in our first meeting," Will said, Fontaine's green eyes staring gently into his. "You said you heard about the Orb, y'know, in Salem that day."

"Yes?"

"I've been wondering… do you-- do you know who did it? Who set it, I mean?" Will asked, all of his attention to her.

"Well," He said, his eyes returning to the waves like usual. "I don't. But I do believe that whoever did it, also murdered Wendell as well. Unfortunately."

Will let out a long sigh.

"Don't be discouraged. I know what you're thinking-- you're thinking that this follower did those things, and I can't blame you for it."

Will stayed silent, choosing instead to leave his gaze and look on into the purple sky, illuminated by the sunset.

Fontaine sighed, too.

"I only told you about him just because you had the right to know. I've already told you, it's nothing but--"

"But a hoax, I know." Will finished, sounding impatient. "It's just; that's the only reason that makes sense."

"It's not wise to dwell on the past, Will." He said, changing the subject. "It's only moving forward, that matters."

He winked his green eye and stood up, beckoning him to head to class.

Will sat in the bright Potions classroom on the highest peak of Spire 7, choosing to read the book that Fontaine had given him, rather than his Potions Guide for Beginners.

He sat in the desk, cramped by the many cauldrons and ingredients that surrounded him, and it became even more enclosed when Blackwood's pretty face leered over his.

"Mr. Johnson, I suppose you do know this is a Potions class, and not the library?" She said, attempting to rile him up. She had succeeded.

"Yes." He replied bitterly, looking up from his book. He could feel the hot stares from his classmates reach him.

"Then I do hope you are smart enough to know that we make potions in this class, not literary work. Put it up."

"Yes. Ma'am."

He put the book in his sack and returned to his poor attempt at a Poppy-Snoot potion, which resembled a cauldron full of brown mud. He looked over to his left at Dakota, who had seemingly already finished, as he was leaned back in his chair, reading a book on 'Quadpot Through the Ages'. He looked to his right. An empty chair sat where a Dylan should've. This was the fourth time Dylan had missed the class, supposedly "reading."

Blackwood strutted her lean body over to Dakota's potion, and peered inside, her auburn hair falling off her shoulders.

"Delightful!" She said loudly, making Will roll his eyes. "It's perfect! The lace worms properly cut; and the beetle legs peppered through out! Oh, if only I had you as a Thunderbird, Mr. Cabe, maybe I wouldn't have so many--" She paused and narrowed her eyes to Will. "--Poor excuses."

Will would've almost leapt out of his chair if it weren't for Abby Arrington; a fellow Thunderbird that spoke up from across the room, her rosy cheeks illuminated by the afternoon sun that shone through the large windows.

"Excuse me, but prejudice against houses is strictly forbidden in the Ilvermorny." She said, glaring the tall teacher. She seemed to have taken offense as her comment as well.

"Well, Ms. Arrington, I appreciate your loyalty to the rules, but as your Head of House, that gives me high authority," Blackwood replied, turning to Abby quickly. "And that authority gives me the right to grant you detention for being an insufferable, tattling, silly little girl that speaks out of line. Detention. My classroom. Saturday evening." She finished, turning from the very disgruntled looking Abby and returning to sit at her cluttered desk at the front of the room. Will then silently turned to her and mouthed a "Thank you" from the other side of the room. Her faced turned into a more calm one and she nodded in reply.

"You know what's worse than having a crazy cultist come after you?" Will snorted, as they walked down the stone steps from the Potions classroom. "Having a class with that hag."

Will and Dakota walked down to the dining hall and plopped themselves down at one of the many tables covered fully with the usual delicious looking foods, sitting next to a few Horned Serpent third-years and Isaiah. He looked even worse than he had before, his hair hiding the pale, ghost-like face beneath it, and his eyes were bloodshot, complete with purple bags under both.

"Hey." He said grimly as they sat down next to him.

"Hey, you good? You look terrible." Will said, reaching over for a goblet of corn juice.

"Yeah, just been getting Quadpot stuff ready. Tryouts are after lunch. You coming down to the field?"

"Isaiah, I've already told you, I don't know anything about Quadpot." Will said.

"I wanna teach you. I think you'll do okay. Just a feelin'." Isaiah then got up from the table after taking a bite of veggie burger. "I'll see you then."

He left in a hurry, limping slightly from which Will had hoped silently was a athletic-related accident.

"He's pretty adamant about you joining that team." Dakota said as he watched him limp out the huge dining doors.

"What the heck is Quadpot?" Will asked, irritated.

"It's a game against two teams," Dakota said, trying to choose what food to pick up. "They have to get the Quad ball to the goal before it blows up."

"Blows up?!" Will exclaimed worryingly.

"Relax. Just a small poof from a popping jinx. Not harmful whatsoever."

Dakota had decided on a few Ricocheting Raisins, pouring a handful into his mouth.

"I'm not sure about sports, Dakota. I mean, all this Harry stuff and school--"

"It's no big deal. It's just tryouts. I'll head down there with you after lunch. I would bring Dylan too but I have no idea where he is." Dakota said, swallowing the raisins. "It's got me a bit worried."

"Maybe, he's at the library or something."

Will had hoped this was true, he didn't like the fact that Dylan had been indeed skipping classes and meals. He figured he'd talk to him straight after the tryouts, and saying this over and over in his head made him feel slightly better.

After Will had run down to the dorm to get his Crickety Comet, he and Dakota left the front doors of the castle and entered the cold, winter air, (Which made Dakota's ears immediately turn a bright shade of pink), and trailed down around the sloping mountain, and crossed the long wooden bridge like they had when they had first arrived. As they crossed, the ocean below was frost, the drops nipping at their robes as they crashed under, making the two of them walk a bit more faster than usual. They stepped off the bridge, and Will had a better view of the forest that awaited.

It was lush, with dark bark and trees that reached the clouds, a small path was set straight through the middle of it. Will barely looked up for a second glance, as his long nose was buried in the Prophecy book again.

"Will, you've read that thing a hundred times over, put it up." Dakota said as they walked through the forest.

"I know, it's just-- it's just, that I feel like I need to know this stuff. The prophecy, I mean."

"I know, you've told me and Dylan a million times. Listen to Fontaine, it's nothing but a scare."

As soon as they reached the end of the Black Forest, they were greeted with something Will had regret not seeing sooner.

Grounds that expanded forever, housing frosted grass and shrubs, with paths that led all across. It sloped with drops and hills, all illuminated by a bleak midwinter sun that beamed weakly down upon them and the foreboding, massive mountains in the distance. The only Will could think was why he hadn't come out here sooner, as it looked astonishing to him, he had the urge to run out and explore.

"I think the pitch is this way." Dakota said, his blue scarf wrapped around his mouth. He pointed towards an old structure in the distance, it's appearance blocked by the thick, white fog surrounding it. They walked down the sloping hills, Will tripped slightly every other step because of the frost that wrapped the grass, which housed large, dirt holes full of mud, looking what seemed to be footprints, but the boys passed it off as some weather incident. Eventually, after a bit of walking, the structure came into view.

A large, towering wall of different colors wrapped around the grounds like a large spectator stand, with small steps leading up to an open passage which gave way to what Will guess was the field.

Walking further and up the steps, they entered the field, it was shaped perfectly like a long oval; the whole thing filled with the same frosted grass they had seen. The stands were littered with handfuls of people, and they were so high they had made Will almost fall backwards from craning his neck so far back. The first thing they saw were a few other students across the way, talking in a circle to one another.

"Well, this is where I leave ya," Dakota said, patting Will on the shoulder. "Good luck. Don't worry, you might find it fun."

He then walked up the steps into the stands and t IPook a seat nearer to the ground. Will wasn't too fond of being alone. Where was Isaiah? He wasn't anywhere in sight.

Will walked up to the small handful of kids. He was a little nervous. They all looked much older than him and he looked to be the only first-year there. What had Isaiah dragged him into?

"Hey!!," He heard a familiar voice say. "It's scrawny! What's he doing here?"

Upon walking a bit closer, he had seen who had spoke. It was Wyatt, the boy who had threatened Dylan before school had started, his greasy hair complimented by his crooked teeth and red robes; Will felt a hot rush of anger at the sight of him.

He was surrounded by a few other older boys also dorning the same robes as well.

"Did you come down here to watch? Stands are up there. Go join your dumb friend." He scoffed. The other boys laughed at Will, eyeing his small stature. Will had a bizarre urge to take his fist and ram into Wyatt's overly large teeth.

"Actually, I came down here to try out, Wyatt." Will said shortly, nodding his head at his broom. "I figured I might as well. I mean, you got on, so how hard could it be?"

"I happen to be Captain, Johnson." He said, turning a slight shade of red under the bleak sun. "Your team's over there."

He pointed over across the mistful field, and to Will's relief, he saw Isaiah and a few other Thunderbirds waving at him in the distance.

Chapter 11 - The Jinxed Broom

Will walked over to the crowd of Thunderbirds, making sure his posture was straight and he walked confidently, as he wanted the Wyatt and his team to be jealous, which only built as Will had given Isaiah a high-five when he greeted him. He was also greeted by a few other familiar faces like Trystan Doyle and Abby Arrington, who were also trying out.

"Hey, glad you could make it." Isaiah said grimly, his breath showing when he talked through the frosty air. "Don't mind those Wampuses over there, we'll show them soon enough. Alright. I want everyone in a line."

He watched through his hanging locks as the handful of Thunderbird's all huddled in a rather sloppy line, with Trystan being knocked down as a consequence. Before Will could get into the line, Isaiah stopped him.

"As a fair training rule, we use the school broomsticks," He said as he weakly waved his wand and a normal old broom came from behind the stands, and it landed in his hands. "Hope you don't m-mind."

He held out the broom, rather reluctantly, and Will pulled it from his white hand forcefully, as Isaiah had a bit of a tight grip on it. Will then put his Comet down and scuttled to the back of the line that had formed messily. He was greeted by Trystan at the back, who had his yellow scarf pulled around his mouth.

"Hey, Will! Any, new adventures or anything? What's up??" He said, his voice muffled.

"Er… No, nothing much." Will replied.

Isaiah wiped his hair from his bloodshot eyes.

"Alright, guys. When you play Quadpot, we start with six players and six rounds. Each person from each team goes off from the starting point here," He said as he gestured with his arms that they were standing on the starting point. "And we drop the Quad into the cannon over there," -He pointed across to the other side of the field- "Before it blows. If it blows, you're out, and the last team with no people lose. It's pretty simple." He ended, looking through his matted hair.

"Wyatt! Send em' over here! Let's get this over with!" He shouted across the frosty field. Wyatt and the other Wampuses jogged across the field in sync, it was obvious he was serious about the tryouts.

Will watched as the Thunderbirds and Wampuses took off in pairs to take the Quad to the cannon. They were using spells and dodging and weaving, much better fliers than Will. He turned to the stands and delivered a 'help me' face to Dakota, in which the boy had sent back a chuckle. He stood in the freezing cold, seeing Abby perform rather well against another Wampus girl. She had cast some sort of freezing spell and the Wampus girl fell into the cold field in a heap. One Wampus boy had performed a loop-de-loop to evade a spell from a Thunderbird girl, making Isaiah shake his head in disappointment. Trystan had a rather bizarre performance; He accidently opted to ride the broom backwards, and for some stupid reason, it worked, to Will's astonishment.

Before he knew it, he was next in line. The anticipation was at it's max, and Will's heart felt like they were skipping every other beat. He stepped up, looking at the handfuls of people in the huge stand. Isaiah stepped up holding the Quad.

"Alright, Will. You've got thirty seconds to get this in the cannon," He said, putting the Quad in Will's shivering hand. It was a perfectly circular black ball, no bigger than a baseball, with a glowing screen in the center of it. "When the screen turns red, it blows. It won't hurt, so don't worry. And remember, only jinxes. No curses. Good luck."

Will sighed shakily.

"Oh, and Will?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

Before Will could respond, Wyatt blurted out: "I'm facing this one. Let's see how good he really is." Wyatt mounted his broom and started hovering next to Will. Will mounted his own, kicking off the ground, staring at the frostbitten stretch of land that stood before them. He felt himself shaking, and he was dead sure it wasn't from the frigid winds that made his teeth chatter.

"On your mark!" Isaiah shouted weakly.

Will looked at Dakota, who had a stressful look about him.

"Get set!"

Will looked at the Quad in his hands, clasping it to his stomach and holding it tight to his shaking body.

"GO!"

Will almost immediately lurched his body as far as it would lean. He took off in a tornado of blurred color. The field was much longer from up in the air, he thought it must've been miles to the cannon, some magic had to be involved. He was speeding as fast as he could, his eyes concentrated on the cannon, not focusing on the people watching, not worrying about the freezing air that blared at his face, making it burn, but then--

"Petrificus Totalus!"

He heard Wyatt shout. Will turned and saw a rippling ball of purple flying at him. He tried to swerve the broom, but it was as if it had a mind of it's own. It threw itself down, jerking Will along with it, making his stomach shake. He narrowly avoided the spell, making it nearly hit a second-year Horned Serpent girl in the stands.

Will struggled to pull out his own wand from his robes, due to how fast they were speeding. The broom jerked him to the left, making him nearly topple off. His mind was racing with spells, none of which he could use offensively, so instead, after regaining his balance, he shouted and mimicked Wyatt:

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Will flicked his wand and the same orb of purple emitted, heading straight for Wyatt and his broom. His lean body swerved it with skill however, performing a barrel roll in midair. Will's broom had made him miss. It still was jerking him in all sorts of directions, making his stomach churn and in turn made him wince in pain. Wyatt had come closer now, their necks only inches away. He rammed into Will's broom with his with a grunt, making Will spin in the air and almost collide with the stands nearby. After regaining his balance messily, and glancing at the Quad, he saw that it was a dark orange color. He looked up and sped faster, trying his hardest to keep the broom in control, ignoring its constant attempts to fling him off, narrowly avoiding Wyatt's constant spells that had been flung at him. Ignoring the arctic winds causing his nose to bleed, ignoring the fact that he had made a fool of himself in front of the school crowd. He took one last look at the Quad. It was showing with a bright, red hue that illuminated his bloody face, but he was near the cannon now, and with his last, tiny bit of energy, he chucked the ball as hard as he possibly have could, and before he could see whether it made it in, he suddenly felt stiff and rigid. He felt dizzy and lightheaded, and then, he fell from his broom, not being able to move his arms or legs, or anything. Only his eyes. He saw Wyatt watch him fall. His hair had blown in his face and his neck was positioned straight forward as he fell back to earth through the misty, frigid air, stiff as a statue….

Chapter 12 - Beast That Lurks

The strong smell of flowery perfume filled his nose. He couldn't tell if he was awake or asleep. He kept trying to open his eyes, but every time he tried, it ended up with his mind telling him 'no' and he drifted into sleep. This pattern continued for a good while before--

"I think he's trying to wake up." He heard a voice say. "Healer Erune! He's waking up!"

Will tried opening his eyes again, and with the utmost effort, he was able. He saw Isaiah and Dakota huddled around him, a few other Thunderbirds behind them.

"Will, you've really gotta stop falling off brooms and landing in beds. You're gonna get killed." Dakota said with a smile.

Will was in some sort of metal bed, it's white sheets enveloping him in warmth. There were other beds just like it, pushed up against the wall in the long, stone room.

"I bet I'd still look better than you." He said feebly.

"He's got jokes!" Isaiah joked, his face still deathly pale.

Will sat up. It was a very painful feeling, as if someone had shoved a giant girder straight through his stomach.

"Agh." He uttered.

"Healer Erune! Hurry!" A Thunderbird yelled.

Will was then forcefully pushed back onto the bed with a shove, and above him was a bizarre sort of sight. The floating candles above them illuminated the man's face.

His face was pudgy and triangular, his nose was almost as short as his fat neck, and above his beady black eyes was the neatest hair Will had ever seen, it being sideswept and cut perfectly, and of the color blonde.

"A rough game, Quadpot. Don't know why they haven't banned it sooner." He said, picking from an assortment of colorful bottles on the table next to the bed.

"What-- agh-- happened?" Will murmured weakly, looking up amongst his friends. Before they could answer, the healer put his meaty hands on Will's nose and pulled his mouth open, making Will almost gag.

"Sorry about that… but you seem to have punctured your stomach… just a little of this…" He said calmly, pouring a green liquid into Will's open mouth.

"Ugh! That's disgusting!" Will coughed and pushing the hand away, the healer placing the bottle back onto the table. He heard Dakota laugh.

"I know, it's bad."

"Well, your stomach should be back to normal in just a few minutes. You're free to go." The healer said, nodding. He walked out of the long room in an awkward, limping walk.

"Man, I probably made a fool of myself out there." Will said as the fat man left.

"Well it certainly didn't help that you were riding a hexed broom. It was easy to spot." Dakota said, a stern look across his face. "You fell and we immediately drug you here. Wyatt had paralyzed you."

Will felt the same hot rush from before, except this time it was much stronger.

"So he hexed the broom, too?" Will said through gritted teeth.

"I think so." Isaiah chimed in. "But here's the thing, when you threw the Quad, you made it in! You're on the team!"

Will didn't really know whether to feel sad or relieved that he was able to pull that off, so he settled for the latter.

"Good... " He said, making him have a slight shock of pain in his stomach.

"Practice starts after Christmas. I'll see you around." Isaiah said, coughing whilst he did it. "I'll see you around."

He pushed his messy hair from his white face, which shown a large, dark scar across his red eyes.

"Wait," Will blurted out. "Maybe you should stay here. That healer could fix you up. You look awful."

"Sorry," Isaiah said grimly. "But not even Erune and his medical wing can fix this."

He gestured with his finger at his face, nodded, and left the room in a hurry.

"Come on, Will. It's getting late." Dakota said, taking Will's hand and pulling him up.

They both gathered their things and left the medical wing.

"Why so glum? Is it because of Quadpot?" Dakota said as they were walking through the long, cold, stone hallways.

"No, I don't care about that… "

"What's the matter?"

"For one, it's that broom."

"You know it was Wyatt."

"Yeah, but could it have been--"

"No. It wasn't that cultist guy. There's no way he could get inside Ilvermorny. The place has too many protective spells put on it." Dakota explained, obviously annoyed by Will's constant suspicions of the follower.

"Yeah. You're right." Will replied, lost in thought. They continued walking through the dead halls, it was night now, Will had suspected he was in the medical wing for a few hours. They walked in silence, giving Will time to think, what was going on with Isaiah? Why was he hurt?

"Isaiah's got me pretty worried, too." He said, rubbing his stomach, as it still felt pretty sore.

"I think he might be sick, like a cold. I mean, he's on that field all the time it seems like." Dakota replied.

"Have you heard those rumors around school?" Dakota asked, changing the subject, most likely because he didn't want Will to start talking about the prophecy again.

"No. What rumors?"

"Well, a couple of third-years told me about the beast that roams the castle at night." Dakota said grimly.

"Beast? There's no beast in the castle."

"I don't know, but they said they've seen it. They say it's huge, bigger than the ceiling, and that it's hairy, and has horns and stuff." Dakota said grimly.

"Dakota, I think that's just kids trying to scare you. It's probably some first-year prank or something. Man, your the worst at making small talk." Will replied, laughing.

Thunder had started. Lightning was slashing in the clouds and lighting the windows every few minutes, casting shadows on the stone walls. Will and Dakota had settled for going to the dorm room early tonight, as they had missed dinner due to the tryouts and were both fairly tired anyways.

They both walked along the empty corridors, with only the deafening sounds of lightning and floods of rain to fill their ears.

"Hey, you seen Dylan?" Will asked.

"I think I saw him coming from the dining hall when we came in."

"I'm gonna go find him, tell him about practice. Meet you at the dorm."

And with a nod from Dakota, Will turned completely around and scuttled his way towards the dining hall doors. When he got there, he only found Professor Blackwood scanning the halls, who had snapped at him to go to bed. He ignored her.

Will must've searched the whole floor before he had went downstairs to the dungeons. As much as he didn't want to, he was going to ask Vexx if he knew where Dylan had went off to. He creeped down the stairs and quietly sneaked his way to the dungeon doors, before he heard a familiar, croaky voice reach his body:

"...I'm glad… you have agreed to join me again…Mr.Cabe…" Vexx whispered, as Will had ducked behind the door and listened closely. "Today, I think we shall start with another… endurance lesson…"

Will was still crouched behind the door, his breaths starting to speed up, wondering what on earth that could be.

"...You know the process…" Vexx rasped. Will heard shifting from behind the door, as if the two were positioning themselves for something, something he didn't think was too educational. Before Will could peek his head through the open door, he heard--

"Crucio!!"

And then Will felt the most agonizing sound he had ever witnessed. A blood-curdling shriek from Dylan rang amongst the cold hallways, the ear bursting sounds echoing in Will's ears, the screams were soon turning into pleas for death, and then--

He heard, amongst the yells, Vexx. It sounded like he was laughing, as if he was enjoying it.

"Ah! Now… it seems as if your power is increasing… how admirable!" He cried amongst Dylan's painful grunts.

Will could imagine the sick, yellow grin that Vexx was known for plastered across his face, not leaving of his body.

Will didn't think, he didn't plan. All he knew that whatever Vexx was doing in that classroom was evil, and before he knew it, he had already leapt.

He stood in the doorway of the dungeon, his wand raised at Vexx. Vexx turned to see Will, his face fearful and eyes bulged. Dylan laid in a heap on the stone floor, twitching.

"What… are you doing here!" Vexx snarled, his grin still reaching ear-to-ear.

Will didn't answer. He listened to Dylan's soft gurgles as he lay against the wall. Will had felt the utmost rage. It was like seven hundred suns had ignited inside of his body. This professor had just tortured his best friend, something Will was not willing to be passive against. So, with his fists clenched, he raised his wand, his hand shaking not of fear but of fury, his mouth about yell out the words-- but then--

"Expelliarmus!"

A red jet of blinding light emitted from Vexx's wand, illuminating the room in a hue of rose. Will's wand flew from his hand, landing near Dylan, whose body was still unresponsive. Will looked up at Vexx, still blinding with rage.

"Take him. Take him and tell… no one." He barked, pointing his long finger, untrimmed finger to Dylan.

"What? N-No, I'm going straight to Fontaine, y-you'll be arrested, you sick, --" Will was interrupted by a loud outburst from Vexx.

"Oh? And if you do… I'll be most happy to tell Mr. Fontaine about how you… just threatened a teacher with a curse…" He said, his body walking closer, so close to Will's face he could smell the rancid breath of the teacher's slowly enveloping grin. "Now. Take him."

Will didn't know how to feel. He stood, Vexx glaring over him, his grin working it's way to be engraved in his mind and his slicked, gross hair shine off the candles. Silently, still pulsing with anger, Will walked to the now sleeping Dylan. As he walked across the musty dungeon, he never took his eyes off Vexx, glaring at him with a potent lust to hurt him.

He picked up Dylan off the ground and pulled Dylan's arm around his. As they limped away from the dungeon, Will felt the stare of Vexx slowly follow him as he exited the underwater classroom. Will had not felt remorse for Dylan. He had not felt fear of Vexx. He only felt untampered, inexplicable, untouchable, wrath.

Chapter 13 - Curses

Will stayed dead silent on the way to the dormitory. He was heaving Dylan with moderate difficulty; the stairs being the worst part of the journey. Dylan was pretty much asleep, his murmurs of gibberish being the only sound he emitted. They walked across the silent halls, the rain still lashing at the windows they walked past.

He never really noticed it before now, but the school halls were a bit eerie at night. As he drug the dazed Dylan back to the dorm, he could've sworn he'd seen large shadows cast against the corridor as lightning struck, which made him struggle to walk a bit faster.

Eventually, the both of them walked into the dorm. Will ended up dumping Dylan on his bed rather uncaringly, and had opted to take a seat at on the couch near Dakota, in front of the crackling fire to gather warmth and think.

"What happened??" Dakota asked frantically, upon seeing Dylan on the bed. Will didn't know exactly what to say. This was Dakota's brother after all, so he decided to attempt to mutter the bare minimum.

"V-Vexx…"

"What about Vexx, Will?" He demanded.

"He, he did some kind of spell…I think."

"What spell? What happened to him?"

"I found him in Vexx's classroom… Said he wanted to give him an 'endurance' test…"

"What spell??"

Dakota had already been at Dylan's bedside, shaking him to snap out of the state he was in, but all he got as a response were a few gargled mutters and a twitch in his right arm.

"I-It was something like… Crusion, or something…" Will stated. He hadn't known what to do, only sit still and look at the fire, unblinking and angry. The screams of pain had gotten to him, and it wasn't pleasing.

"Crucio?" Dakota uttered, looking at Will with a face mixed with dumbfoundedness and fear.

"Y-yeah, that was it… it was Vexx…"

Will turned around on the couch and saw that Dakota had already dug out a glass bottle full of some strange glowing orange liquid, holding Dylan down on the bed and turning it into his open throat.

"Vexx? It was Vexx?" Dakota said, still pouring the liquid into Dylan's open mouth, who had sprawled out on the bed back first.

"Y-yeah, he hurt him…" Will muttered, now walking to Dylan and looking down upon him. Dylan's eyes were closed, he looked sickly, with scars on his face, like he had been lashed with small, spiked whips over and over.

"He's gonna be okay now, I think," Dakota whispered, gulping. "Angel's Trumpet Drought speeds up healing from the Unforgivable Curses. He's gonna be fine…"

Dakota then left Dylan on the bed, before dumping the now empty bottle in his trunk and sitting on the couch.

"I can't believe Vexx would do that… I mean, he's a teacher," Dakota said. "When have to tell Fontaine, Will."

Will left Dylan's bedside, plopping himself next to Dakota.

"I was going to. But, Vexx blackmailed me." Will said.

"How?"

"When I saw Dylan, y'know…," Will started, the screams rang through his ears again, making him uneasy. "I tried to curse Vexx. He said he would tell Fontaine that if I told Fontaine about him."

"Why would you try to curse a teacher? That'll send you straight to the Congress, Will." Dakota said.

Will ignored him, his eyes now concentrated only on the bright, crackling fireplace, his fists were clenched in anger. All he thought about was using the same curse on Vexx… Listening to his screams, to his pain, to get what he deserved… What kind of sick individual would even do that...

"Will?!" Dakota said, waking Will out of his trance.

"What." Will said bitterly.

"Why was Vexx doing that? Did he tell you?"

Will looked back at Dylan, who was sleeping now.

"No… no he didn't."

"We have to get this info to Fontaine somehow. If he finds out, Vexx will be sent to prison, easy life sentence." Dakota said.

"Why? Because it's one of those Unforgivable spells?" Will asked.

"Yeah. There's three," Dakota said, leaning forward and burying his face in his hands. "There's Crucio, the one Vexx used on Dylan, it causes torture…. Then there's Imperio, it causes the caster to have complete control over the victim… Then…" Dakota trailed off instantly, his voice slightly shaking.

"Tell me, Dakota." Will said.

"... Avada Kedavra… the biggest one… it causes immediate death. It's the Killing Curse." Dakota said.

He looked grave. He got up, walking over to Dylan, leaving Will on the couch.

To Will, this seemed overwhelming. Ilvermorny wasn't supposed to be like this, his Dad said he'd love it… But that wasn't true. Not only was Will in peril from the cultist on the loose, but his teacher was insane, torturing his students… Then there were the rumors of some beast lurking in the castle, and Wyatt… Now there were curses that could kill people???

Will got up and walked over to his bed, laying down. Dakota had done the same now, and Dylan was still sprawled, his loud snores echoing through the dim dormitory.

Will barely got any sleep. How could he have? His best friend was just tortured, and his life seemed numbered. He hated to admit it, but he wanted to leave the school. He wanted to home, far away, and never come back. This whole thing, this whole disaster, was too much… These thoughts never left his full and racing mind… being the only things guiding him into an uneasy and lacking slumber…

The first-years of Transfiguration class clambered into the small room, the familiar animals hanging in cages from the ceiling being there to greet them. Will and Dakota sat in their desks, and Dylan, who was feeling much better, sat in his desk, even though his pale face was still very apparent. They sat in the torch-lit classroom, awaiting Professor Wamsley among the conversing children.

"Dylan. I'm going to ask you one last time. What happened in those dungeons last night. Why was he doing that?" Will asked, staring into Dylan's eyes, which were too stubborn to move from a nearby parakeet.

Dylan stayed silent.

"Tell us. We need to know." Dakota chimed in, opening his Transfiguration textbook.

No answer.

Professor Wamsley strutted into the classroom at that moment, going to the center of the room and spun dramatically, apparently excited.

"Today class," He said. "Is a very important day. As you all know, Christmas Break is just in a mere week, and all Professors must deliver the end-of-term assessment before that time arises."

The whole classroom groaned and rolled their eyes. Dakota's eyes bulged and he sat straight up, it was obvious he was nervous. Dylan didn't move. And Will couldn't care less. His grades had taken a backseat to the situations he was having to be put up against; The only bad thing about this exam was that there was no chance of him being able to talk to Dylan during it.

"Now, this exam is a compilation of the material we've learned over term," Wamsley said as he passed exam papers out to the students. "And I have a fantastic feeling that all of you will do exceptionally fantastic on it."

He smacked down the exam paper in front of Will as soon as he said the last word, a hopeful smile a top his face.

This made sense. Will's favorite teacher was Wamsley, and his favorite class was this one. From his first day, he had done surprisingly well in the class, he had the highest marks out of all of his other subjects, so it was only just that Wamsley was indeed hoping for Will to ace his exam.

Truthfully, Will didn't exactly care about the test, or what Wamsley wanted. Will wanted to find out what happened to Dylan, and that's it. So, as soon as the test had begun, his mind didn't stay focused for long.

He stared at the questions on the parchment. The ink began to blur together, he couldn't concentrate on "The proper wand flick to transfigure a meerkat." He needed his friend, not an exam he hadn't studied for.

He sat in the silent classroom, Wamsley pacing around the desks, looking upon the students. Dakota was scribbling down answers rapidly, his quill speeding across the paper, and Dylan hadn't written anything, looking at the paper blankly, his head resting on his hands.

The exam went okay. Will had guessed he had at least gotten most answers right, and settled on leaving the classroom quite pleased. The three all made their way to the dining hall as usual, and unfortunately heard a few rumors from from the passing students.

"Still going to those meetings with the Headmaster, are you Johnson? I knew you were a big kiss up!"

"Fontaine, picking favorites? And he chose you!?"

Will rolled his eyes. He pushed the kids away and led the other two into the dining hall before sitting down.

"Don't let 'em get to you, Will." Dakota said, sitting down and eagerly taking a sip of milk out of his goblet.

"I'm not. I hear them all the time." Will said, looking down at his bowl of cereal. "Do you think I should tell Fontaine about Dylan?"

Will turned around from Dylan and whispers as he said this.

"No. You could go to jail. That's a big crime, threatening a teacher." Dakota responded, also whispering.

Their conversation was interrupted by Fontaine at the high table. Will turned his head and saw Vexx, twisted grin staring right at Will. Will felt like whipping his wand from his robes and using the Killing curse on Vexx that instant if he could.

His dark thoughts were intruded by Fontaine's speech:

"Good morning students!" He said amongst the large hall. "I would like to bring some concerns of mine to the fore-front."

Will was eager to find out what these concerns were immediately.

"For one," Fontaine started, his bald head glaring off the chandelier. "The so-called beast that students have spread as rumors is, I'm most sorry to say, real."

The hall erupted in fearful murmuring and gasps of shock. Dakota looked at Fontaine, confused, and Dylan's eyes were poignant on his untouched waffle. A few Wampuses even let out a couple of loud yelps.

The sickly looking Isaiah, who was sitting across, got up from the table immediately, sprinting out of the hall. Will's lightbulb in his head turned on immediately. But Fontaine continued before he could process this:

"However, there is no harm in it. 'Tis just an escaped transfiguration mess-up." He said, calm as could be. "But, I urge every student"- His green eyes moved to Will- "To stay in their dormitories, until such creature is captured."

Will's heart started doing it's now routine rapid beating. This was the last thing he needed. He already had too much on his plate, and now there was a beast in the castle?

The teachers along the table looked solemn, their soft glares hitting the many students, all except Vexx, his grin still very apparent.

"In light of these recent events, classes until Christmas have been canceled. Students may either return home, or stay here, switching from dorm to dining hall only." Fontaine said, and then sighed wearily. "As of now, Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is on lockdown."

The students got up at once, making loud screams and yells, all running toward their respective dormitories. The hall emptied quickly, soon the screeching stopped, and silence set in.

The trio were the last to leave, and they started towards the large doors to exit before--

"You three. Come with me, if you would."

They all three turned and saw Fontaine staring at them, his bright smile obscured by his dragging, bushy beard.

The three of walked with Fontaine to his office. He opened the familiar door filled with swirls and emitting it's bright stars.

Fontaine looked at the three of them for a moment, then stepped inside.

They watched as his body shaped and shifted, before disappearing.

Dakota watched in awe, Dylan was indifferent. Then they suddenly heard through the swirling door way:

"Dylan first, if you don't mind, I'm a bit skeptical n the properties of my office if all three of you were to enter." Fontaine said, his voice distorted and shifting out of the swirls and stars.

They both stood in front of the door as Dylan entered, the same way Fontaine's had done. His large body shifted and changed, his limbs swirling about until he disappeared.

"What was that, Will?" Dakota said, awestruck.

"It's the entrance to his office, he says it shows you the place that you most want to be."

A few seconds passed.

"What did you see?" Dakota asked.

"The Caribbean, an island near the sea."

"What'd you think Dylan's seeing?"

"I'm not sure."

The two of them stood in silence for a few moments. As of right now, Will wasn't exactly in the mood to talk. He had too much to deal with. A beast, Quadpot, the Prophecy, Wyatt, Vexx…

"What do you think about this beast?" Dakota said, looking at Will.

"I think I know who it is."

"What? Who?"

"It's Isaiah. He's the beast. It only makes sense. It's not a transfiguration gone wrong."

"How do you know?"

Will sighed.

"Isaiah isn't ever in bed. Ever since we've been at Ilvermorny he's never once been asleep in the dorm." Will explained. "He's always sick. He looks terrible, gashes in his face and stuff."

"You maybe right, but you can't prove it." Dakota said, looking down and thinking.

"Did you see the way he ran out of the hall?" Will said, appalled.

"He could just be scared."

"He doesn't seem the type to me."

"But why would he do that? Turn into it, I mean." Dakota said, shaking his head.

"I don't know," Will said. "But he hasn't hurt anyone yet. Maybe he's trying to keep himself from doing so…"

Just then Dylan erupted from the doorway, looking slightly better, but a bit dazed.

"Fontaine says he wants to see you, Dakota." He said. These were the first words Dylan had said all day, so both of their shocked faces were understandable.

Without a word, Dakota entered the doorway, his limbs moving and changing, until they faded away into the swirling void. It left Will and Dylan alone in the empty hallway.

"He wants my wand." Dylan said, completely out of the blue.

"What?" Will said.

"Vexx. The reason he did those things. He wanted my wand."

Dylan pulled his wand from his cloak pocket and examined it.

"It's the core that he's after."

"But, why did you let him do that stuff?" Will asked, looking towards Dylan.

"He told me…" Dylan started, clenching his fists. "He told me that it was to make me a better wizard. And for some reason… I believed him…"

Will didn't have any idea what to say. What was he supposed to say?

"How do you know? All this?" Will had asked the first question that had come to his mind.

"Well," Dylan said. "When I was in his office, I told Fontaine about it. I mean, for some reason, I just opened up, y'know? And then I gave him my wand, and he just knew."

"Yeah…" Will said. "What's Fontaine going to do about Vexx? Surely he'll be fired, right?"

"I don't know. Fontaine said he had a lot of stuff to deal with right now--"

Just then, Dakota appeared from the swirling doorway, his limbs coming together and the swirls aligning his shape.

"You're next, Will." He said.

Will stepped up to the doorway, gave the other two a nod, and stepped inside.

He felt the odd sensation again, his hands and legs going in and out of numbness, and his head shaking back and forth involuntarily before he entered the same familiar ocean he was used to.

The ocean's bright blue waves crashed against the orange sand, and the usual purple sunset never wavered from its position on the horizon. Will saw Fontaine sitting in a chair, waiting for him to sit in the other.

"Professor Fontaine, I've got loads to tell you--" Will said, his hair waving in the breeze.

"Well, then sit." Fontaine said.

Will took a seat across from Fontaine, eager to ask him a multitude of questions. Fontaine scratched his beard, then beckoned with his hand for Will to speak.

"Well," Will said, not knowing exactly where to start. "The beast. The one in the castle. I think I know who it is."

"Mm? Do you now?" Fontaine asked, curious sounding.

"Yeah. I, er, I think… it's Isaiah Harris." Will asked, fearful of whether his prediction was wrong.

Fontaine studied him with his green eyes for what felt like forever.

"What makes you think that?"

"For one, he's never in bed. Ever. And, he's always looking sick, with scars and stuff on his face. He's hardly at dinner, and when he is he acts like he hasn't eaten in years, and, did you see the way he ran out of the hall when you mentioned it--"

"You're right." Fontaine said.

Will immediately stopped his rambling.

"What? I am?" He asked, surprised by Fontaine's answer.

"Indeed. I was afraid one of you would find out the truth. I trust you know why I lied to the other students." Fontaine said.

"To keep Isaiah safe?" Will asked.

Fontaine nodded.

"Well, I mean, why? Why does he turn into some sort of monster?" Will said, confused.

"I'd rather not call them monsters," Fontaine said. "Minotaurs are rather fantastic creatures, I think."

Will was dumbfounded. He felt immediately as if limbs had been turned to mushy jelly in the orange sand that surrounded him.

"A W-what, sir?" He managed to utter.

"A Minotaur, Will. I believe that the boy has been cursed somehow, turning into one every night, unfortunately. It takes great magical strength to do so." Fontaine said.

"But, those things are dangerous right?" Will said. He had only read of Minotaurs in a book or two in the library. They said that Minotaurs were apparently extremely deadly, not something to be provoked. And now there was one inside the castle?

"Oh yes, untamed ones." Fontaine answered calmly.

"Well, you have to find a way to fix it, right? You can fix it right?" Will asked.

"Unfortunately, no. It was as I said, the curse that was put upon Mr. Harris is beyond even my levels of expertise… I know no counter curse."

Will's heart dropped at the response, burying his face in his hands.

"You're stressed, are you not?" Fontaine asked.

Will sighed.

"It's just…"

"What?"

"Why is everything going badly, Professor?"

Fontaine's eyes twinkled through his glasses, casting a glare from the setting sun.

"It's because you're making these bad things your own problems, and that is most unhealthy." He said, adjusting his robes against the sand.

"What?"

"This beast isn't yours to deal with. Professor Vexx's actions are not yours to punish, and the Prophecy certainly isn't your own fault." Fontaine said.

Fontaine had a point, Will had been worrying about things he should not have.

"But they're my friends. I can help them if--"

"Promise me something, Will." Fontaine said, his beard flowing.

Will nodded.

"Promise me you will stop worrying about these things. Everything is perfectly under control." Fontaine said. "Promise me."

Will nodded gravely.

Fontaine then spoke again after a long silence.

"Professor Vexx has been sentenced to a hearing at MACUSA in New York City during the break. They delivered the news today. It pains me that one of my most trusted individuals has been hiding these terrible tendencies for so long. I'm deeply apologetic for these situations you three have been placed in." He said sorrowful.

Will nodded again. At this point he was at a complete loss for words. The things he'd seen this first term were regrettably memorable.

Will shifted in his seat, kicking the sand out of his shoes and looking down at the grains of fire in which he sat.

"I do hope you three have a good Christmas. These problems will be fixed by the time term resumes in January. You may go. I do have a lengthy amount of parent-mailing to get to." Fontaine said, and he stood up, signaling Will to leave.

Will did as he was told, starting towards the door, looking at the Headmaster one last time. Fontaine waved and Will did the same.

He left through the door, nothing attached, leaving the Professor alone in the Caribbean paradise.

Chapter 14 - Fearful Christmas

Will sat in the fire-lit dormitory, laying on the windowsill and watching the harsh snow fall into the icy grounds through the air, still reading the same letter his father had sent the day before Christmas Break a week ago:

Dear Son,

Your mother and I have discussed it, and we've chosen to keep you at school. I'm busy with work and your mother's worried about you coming home. Sorry, Will, but we think it's for the best. We'll mail you everyday if you want, send something back!

-Dad

He must've read the parchment over a hundred times; and each time he did he had powerful urge to chuck it into the nearby fire. He had been looking forward to go home pretty much all term, and now they were making him stay to "keep him safe."

His father had even told Fontaine, much to Will's slight embarrassment. Fontaine then took it upon himself to have almost constant interruptions by Professor Barkrich, who kept busting through the dormitory door and asking:

"Everything all right in here, dearie?"

And then he'd reply with the same response:

"Peachy."

It was quite tiring. Fontaine said it was for safety reasons of Isaiah, who had been taken into MACUSA for sentencing, but Will knew it was because his parents were being overly protective about the Prophecy, which by now Will had deemed fake. If only he were Dylan and Dakota, who had left first day to head back to their mansion. Will had even asked his father if he could go with them, but it was quite easy to guess what answer he had given him.

On Christmas Eve, Will stepped into the dining hall for dinner around dark. The wooden walls were lined with tinsel and illuminated lights that stayed put in midair, huge candy canes were spinning all around the hall, bumping into the ceiling, and behind the four round tables, stood a towering, massive tree, decorated with ornaments all the way around.

Sadly, this jolly and festive hall didn't perk Will up much. He sat down at one of the near-empty tables, save for a couple of Horned Serpent sixth-years, who immediately had decided to leave and soon as he started his meal, leaving him alone in the noiseless hall.

He glumly poked at his half-eaten dressing with his fork, thinking about how much better it would be if he were at home right then. Suddenly, Trystan appeared, taking a seat next to him, his scarf wrapped over his mouth.

"Hey Will, thought you looked lonely. Figured I'd come over and we could discuss Quadpot strats! You could tell me you made the Quad in during tryouts! That was amazing..."

"Erm… hey there, Trystan… Thanks." Will said awkwardly.

He then finished dinner quickly, now in the mood to return the dorm and curl up next to Brody and sleep, hoping it would get him through break. He was escorted for about the seventh time by Barkrich, who, on the way would not stop rambling on about 'Great Charm Find' of 1965, which made Will lose her through a shortcut he had found earlier in the year.

He entered the dormitory door, throwing his robes on the couch before looking up, seeing a most horrible sight near the dark window.

It was Isaiah.

All of his hair was missing, huge holes of skin seeping through, and his thick neck was craned at a most awkward angle; it was looking straight up, even though his ravaged body and been on all fours. His clothes were practically non-existent, with his ripped jeans being the only supplement. And his face was now bleeding from all places, his ears and nose, the thick liquid dropping in spurts on the carpet with soft smacks.

"G-Get…. F-Fontaine…." He uttered through a barely audible voice, craning his broken neck towards Will. It was obvious that he was in the utmost pain.

Will stood, petrified and frozen, his breaths rapid and his heart beating out of his chest, before giving a quick nod and attempting to bolt out the door before he heard a ear-bursting roar.

The screech knocked over paintings and posters, shaking the stone room and nearly making Brody fall of the bed.

Will reluctantly turned backward, only to see a dark, grey mass that was tall as the ceiling and obscured by the now pitch-black room. The mass was breathing, hard. It was puffing out hard breaths through what Will guessed was it's nose, like a bull.

Will was standing frozen in shock. He knew what had just happened, and he wasn't going to face it alone. He had no idea why Isaiah was in the castle, but he didn't have time to worry. Instinctively, Will pulled his wand from his robes, pointing at the bed and for some reason unbeknownst to him, mimicked his father:

"Accio Brody!"

He shouted, and then the small dog came sailing through the air, squirming and barking at the dark shadow before them and landed in Will's open arms.

As soon as he did this, Will spun on his heels and sprinted for the dorm door, opening as fast as he could, before bursting into the dark halls and closing the door shut.

"Brody, to the Owlery." He said through his panting breaths.

The small dog obeyed, galloping to the nearby stairs.

"Okay… Okay… Now what?"

Will went the opposite way, dashing as fast as he could toward Fontaine's office. He had to get there… to tell him what happened… to tell him Isaiah had….

Will's mind couldn't concentrate. It was only focused on getting to Fontaine's office as fast as he could, leaping up steps and constantly looking behind him to make sure the Beast hadn't been following him. As far as he could see, he saw nothing.

The journey to the office was painful. Will's arms were like flailing noodles and his legs were slowly becoming weak and flimsily, almost collapsing under his weight. He was nearing it now, still running as fast as his body would carry him, ignoring his throbbing heart and the sharp pains in his sides…

He hopped up the last step and entered yet another empty hall, hobbling as fast as he could towards the door to his office and then--

It wasn't there.

Will walked up to the stone wall where the door to Fontaine's office should've been. He leant his hands up against it, feeling nothing but jagged rough stone underneath them.

He was panicking now. He was sure this was the right floor, and he was sure this is where it would be, he had done it a million times--

He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe Fontaine would leave him when he most needed him. Yet, there he was, pacing rapidly around the corridor, not knowing what to do. He had quick thoughts of going to the the hall, or a classroom, but before he could even think about it--

The massive roar from earlier rung out through the stone building, traveling to Will's ears and giving him a certainty that is was very close. Giant stomps and thuds followed the sound, making the very floor on which Will stood vibrate and shake, almost losing his balance.

He had no other options. He huddled himself against the nearest wall, which housed a huge stained-glass window. He pulled his wand from his pocket and aimed it straight forward in preparation of the Beast that was making its way closer and closer by more gigantic stomps slowly escalating, making Will wince every time it took a step.

The seemingly fortified school had been infiltrated. Will stood, his back arched as far as it would go toward the wall, listening to the muffled yells and pleas from the downstairs hall…

"What is that thing?????"

"Students evacuate to the courtyard immediately!!"

"Go! Go!"

Will had made a grave mistake. If only he had stayed down there, he could've made it out…. but now he was here, stuck and trembling, huddled against the window, still listening to the harsh stomps that sounded strongly nearby now…

Then, he heard the noise again. The strong, puffing noise of harsh breathing, and the stomps still shaking the stone corridor. Just then, from behind the wall, revealed the Beast, who had appeared from it.

It's fur was matted, stained with mud and dirt that covered its whole body, and it's arms were massive and muscular, bigger than Will himself, and throbbing with each breath it took, it's fingers were meaty, and housed long, sharp claws that touched the ground. It's feet were enormous, and looked like black hooves, peppered with debris as they sunk into the stone floor through it's absurd weight.

Will was still pointing his wand, closing his eyes tight and looking away, his back flat against the window. He refused to look at the Minotaur's face, until he reluctantly opened his eyes--

The Minotaur's head must have been as big as a small horse. It was shaped in the form of an oversized bull, but with deliberate mistakes, like the razor sharp yellow teeth that grimaced when it breathed, and its bone-like horns that had been imbedded into its temples curved around and ended with a spiked point, above its beady, empty red eyes that seemed to glow.

Will didn't know how to react. He didn't have any clue on what to do. Why did it come for him? Why not the other kids downstairs? Should he try to dart around the thing and make a break for downstairs? Should he scream at the top of his lungs for a teacher to help him?

Even if he had chosen one of these, he was dead sure he wouldn't have moved anyways.

Yet, there he sat, his chest heaving rapidly once again and his eyes bulging in fear.

The Minotaur was unmoving as well. It stood still, it's massive, fur-ridden chest heaving up and down with it's large breaths, breathing out wispy smoke from its snout as it did. It let go raspy, gurgled air every exhale, spraying small bits of spit on the stone cold floor below them.

Should he cast something?

He tried to think of some spell he could use, but none could come to mind, he was too busy staring into the face of what surely would be the reason for his death.

"Isaiah…?"

Just then, the monster slowly raised its hairy arm, its claws seemingly slithering out of its fingers already more than it had, preparing to slice, but before he could, Will smacked his hand against the window behind him, in a feeble attempt to break it, but instead he got a very different result.

Will felt like a hook behind his navel had been jerked irresistibly forward. His feet left the ground. He was speeding forward in a howl of wind and a tornado of color…

Chapter 15 - Nerve

He landed on his feet in a powerful stomp. The feeling had almost made him break his ankles, as he hit what felt like cold grass and then landed on his stomach. It was a rather unpleasant feeling, and he nearly vomited when he fell.

He stood up clumsily, attempting to gain his balance. As soon as his eyes cleared, he blinked rapidly, and looked around him. He stood in the middle of the Quadpot pitch, the empty, massive stands surrounding him, and the harsh snow falling down onto the covered grass around it, and the night sky enveloping him. He felt immediately cold, only sporting a hoodie and jeans, and tried staggering towards the exit, before hearing the footsteps come from the foggy castle in the distance. They were the same stomps, only much farther away and very muffled.

Will immediately knew that the window had been a Port-Key, and the Minotaur was attempting to follow him; Frantically, he started pacing, walking around the frosted field in the cold, he had nowhere to run to. If he tried going back to the castle, he would surely run into the Beast.

He was left with nothing to do, except wait in the freezing cold, entrapped by the stadium, awaiting his untimely demise.

So, he did.

He sat in the frigid air, his nose and ears turning a bright red and his breath being seen in the frosty atmosphere.

He started shaking, not knowing whether it was from the cold or fear, seeing the black mass rise from the hills, its large steps quaking the ground. It walked slowly, and with its presence looming ever closer had Will gather up an existential amount of dread.

It was obvious if it was still standing that the professors in the courtyard had either not enough magic to take it down, or that they abandoned the premises, abandoning Will.

Who enchanted that window?, he thought, and why would it send him here? Why had Isaiah turned into that thing right when Will stepped into the room? Was the person who cursed him in the castle? Was it Wyatt?

The mass was larger now, the Minotaur now hurdling into a slight jog, its long arms flaring like two plane wings in the icy cold, and its long fur bristling as it ran.

Will stood up, his wand pulled out and raised, gulping hard and standing as poised as he could. Now the beast was running towards the doorway, still running, no signs of stopping, it's hooves stamping against the ground, kicking up large amounts of dirt, and it's raspy breaths getting louder and louder, now sprinting towards the pitch until--

The small doorway into the pitch collapsed and exploded in a blur of wood, cloth and splinters, making a harsh crashing noise and littering most of the field in rubble and debris, upsetting the balance of the stands. Will hadn't the time to worry about this, as the Minotaur still hadn't stopped sprinting, running horns first towards him, its feet rapidly moving--

He weakly leapt to the side, rolling in the snow covered grass to barely escape the Minotaur's charge, and turning on his heels to raise his wand at the Beast's who had also turned, and shouted:

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Just then, a purple burst of light shot from Will's wand, hitting the beast in it's furry arm. It awkwardly shifted its arms to its sides, its posture straight and poised, and just like a great statue, appeared stiff. It's massive form stayed oddly still for a moment, then, it collapsed into the snow on its back, sending up chunks of ground and ice, its arms still at its sides, its body completely unmoving.

Will didn't wait to see if the thing would move again, he darted towards the now collapsed opening to the pitch, sprinting as fast as he could and leaping over the rubble. He moved towards the castle at a painful pace, his throat completely dry and his sides experiencing the same sharp pain as before. The stomps started up again; The beast had risen once more. He picked up his pace and ran through the Black Forest, over the bridge that crossed the ocean, climbing the cavern steps leading up to the castle, and bursting forth from the gates until he saw all three Heads of Houses, standing in front of the castle doors. The handful of children that had stayed at school huddled behind them, quivering and fearful.

"Johnson!," Blackwood barked, marching up towards him. "Where have you been? We've been worried sick!"

"You'll have to forgive me," Will uttered through harsh heaves. "But-- I was a bit busy with not dying."

The woman's face seemed to turn into exact color as her ginger hair.

"Where's Fontaine?" Will said, ignoring her appalled expression. "Where is he?"

"Looking for you." She said bitterly.

The stomps were getting closer now, and Barkrich was sending up what seemed to be protection spells from her wand, emitting four transparent walls around the castle.

"Come on, Will," Wamsley said, opening the castle doors for the fearful students to pile into. "Get in here. We'll evacuate from one of the back entrances."

Will didn't listen.

"I can't, Fontaine's out there! I have to help him!" Will said, turning back.

"NO!" Wamsley shouted.

Before Will could dart down to the pitch, the wall that had encompassed the castle closed him in. He ran and pushed against it, but it was no use, he was pushing up against an invisible, see-through barrier, no way of escaping.

"Fontaine's out there! Guys, please! He'll get hurt!" He said frantically, punching the force-field.

"Fontaine is more than capable of handling himself Mr.Johnson," Barkrich said through gritted teeth. "And he certainly doesn't need the help of some silly little boy."

Will was rushed back into the castle, the massive doors closing upon him, until he saw nothing but the many scared students around him and the torch lit hallway.

"There's a monster out there," Will said, turning around with a glare towards the teachers. "He's going to be killed!"

"Headmaster Fontaine will be fine, Mr. Johnson, follow us towards the back doors for evacuation. Now." Wamsley said sternly, leading students down the tinsel strewn corridor.

But Will ignored him.

He hadn't the slightest idea of what he was doing, but he still dizzily zoomed towards the stairs, descending , not listening to the teachers' pleas and begs for him to stop, he approached his dorm and burst in it, grabbing his Comet off his bed and speeding towards the open window near the fire.

Without thinking, without the smallest shred of reluctance, he leaped from the ledge, his body over the broom, immediately ascending and flying upwards from the castle, swooping over the tall barriers that Barkrich had created, and sped towards the Quadpot field, looking for any trace of Fontaine.

He flew across the large spires, attempting to keep his eyes peeled but the snowy winds had a certain need to keep them closed. The darkness of the night and the blur of the land made it near impossible to see anything, but he found him.

Fontaine stood in the middle of the pitch standing casually, the dark mass of the Minotaur unmoving. Will immediately rocketed downwards to the field, eventually landing harshly upon the snow, slipping off and rolling along, until he was able to stand and meet his eyes with Fontaine's.

"Quite the stubborn one, I think." He said as if Will hadn't just crash landed off a broom.

Will sat up, brushing snow off his jeans and looking at the unstirring, great creature the lay on the ground, face down.

"I-Is it--"

"No, but it is quite wounded."

"Professor, I don't understand--" Will said, panting and his heart beating rapidly. "--I thought Isaiah was taken to the Unwanted Curses Department at MACUSA…Why was he at Ilvermorny?"

Fontaine's twinkling green eyes fixed their gaze upon the creature, completely unwavering from fear or cold.

"I cannot say," He said briskly. "When he returns, maybe we shall ask him. Come. I have explaining to do for your broom charade."

The old man turned, his black beard sprinkled with snow, and walked towards the castle.

"Quadpot will have to wait, it seems." He chuckled as he crossed the debris of the broken stands.

"Sir, what about Isaiah?" Will asked through the cold, looking at the Minotaur who still lie in the snow.

"Ah. I trust Mrs. Barkrich had taught you the levitating charm? Use it, if you would."

Will raised his eyebrows.

"Sir, we've only used that on feathers."

"Ah, forgive me."

Fontaine then retrieved his wand from his long cloak, pointed it at the creature, and then the beast suddenly started to float a few feet from the ground, its body limp and its claws scraping the snow beneath it.

They both walked up the trail to the castle, both staying silent and the Minotaur floating behind them, as if Fontaine's wand had acted like a magnet. Eventually they both trudged back to the gates, Fontaine snapping his fingers as the wall Barkrich had created suddenly popped out of existence.

The two of them went inside, only to be greeted by Blackwood, her face fuming and her usually straightened hair now curly and frizzy.

"Agilbert!," She hissed, marching towards them with her lips pursed. "Do you have any idea the trouble this boy has caused? The MACUSA will be straight up our--"

She paused, looking behind Fontaine and noticed the sleeping floating Minotaur they had drug in from the cold. She looked seriously offended, as if someone had told her that she hadn't put her extensive makeup on properly.

"Agilbert, why in the world would you bring that thing in here?" She stuttered, her penciled eyebrows raised.

"Never mind it. Where are the other students?" He asked.

"In their dorms. Phemus is checking upon them every twenty."

"Very good. If you would," Fontaine said, now speaking to the other Heads as well. "Please don't let them find out about this. I imagine they're still a bit shocked at what they had seen earlier."

He gave a wave and a nod and said: "Come, Will."

Then both of them went up to Fontaine's office, the beast still floating behind them.

Will and Fontaine sat in their chairs like usual on the lush beach, the greenery behind them prominent as ever, and the sunset beaming over the horizon, in a bond with the sparkling, vast blue ocean that filled the world. Isaiah had turned back into himself and lay unconscious in the sand, still bruised and scarred.

"Sir," Will said. "I'm sorry about, um, jumping out that window."

Fontaine chuckled.

"No, it's quite alright. Another brave act, however reckless it may be." He said, smiling. Then he sighed. "And, sadly, recklessness does come with its consequences, and Blackwood is adamant about a detention the day after break."

Will sighed too, but Fontaine continued.

"For a reason unbeknownst to me," He said eyeing the sleeping boy. "Mr. Harris has been delivered from MACUSA to Ilvermorny somehow. It seemed deliberate…"

He was talking to himself more than he was to Will.

"And to place him back in your dorm…"

"But we're roommates, Professor," said Will slowly.

"Excuse me?"

"He was put in our dorm at the beginning of term, sir."

"No."

"What?"

"No, he wasn't. He was not placed in your dorm." Fontaine said, standing up. Will watched him and Fontaine started pacing through the sand. Will didn't know how to continue the conversation, so he waited for Fontaine to speak again.

"What did he tell you?" He said.

"He said there was no other space, said that he was put in there."

"Has he done anything else? Anything strange?"

To Will, Fontaine had sounded grave and demanding, a very sudden shift from his usually cheery self.

"Erm, well," Will said, trying to think. "During the Quadpot tryouts earlier in the year, he gave me a school broom, and we think it was jinxed--" Fontaine's eyes pierced Will's soul. "--But we thought it was Wyatt."

Fontaine stopped pacing and looked at Wil.

"Mr. Wood couldn't cast a proper jinx on a teacup if he wanted to, let alone a broom." He said as he returned to his seat.

Will stayed silent for a moment, listening to the soft waves crash against the sand, and then he said:

"Sir, you're not saying Isaiah jinxed the broom, are you?"

"Accusations get us nowhere, Will," Fontaine said. "It's uncovering the truth that matters, and I believe we've found out the strangeness surrounding Mr. Harris."

"What do you mean?" Will asked, shifting in his seat, and eyeing Isaiah in the sand.

"That boy had been attempting to befriend you as soon as you arrived at Ilvermorny." Fontaine said. "He's been trying to get in close to you, I think. I believe he's doing somebody's bidding."

Will again, had no words. He was dreading at what Fontaine was getting at, but he let him go on.

"The follower, perhaps, Will." He said darkly.

"Professor, please, explain. I'm confused." Will said pleadingly.

"What other person would want your demise, Will?"

Will sat for a moment, realizing what Fontaine was about to say.

"Think about it," Fontaine said, standing up once more. "I hate to truly say it, and I've been toiling over it for a while now, this follower, I believe, is back."

Will's stomach churned. The belief that the letter his parents had received was a hoax suddenly vanished from his mind. Fontaine caught his expression and said quickly:

"But why now? Why at Ilvermorny?"

Will stayed silent as he didn't want to interrupt Fontaine's hard thinking.

"He must think that you're most vulnerable here… No, that can't be it…"

The waves seemed to pick up now, as a swirling dark cloud off in the distance grew ominously.

"He must be using Isaiah to get to you…." Fontaine uttered. "Yes… the follower… he must've cursed Isaiah, he must've gotten him to jinx the broom, he must've taken him from MACUSA and placed him in that dorm…and the Port-Key on the window…"

"Sir, are you saying the follower is in the castle?" Will interrupted.

Fontaine looked at him with shock upon his face, as if he didn't even know Will was there that whole time.

"I'm sorry," Fontaine said, shaking his plump head. "You must go, go rest. I have much to do."

Will stood up reluctantly as Fontaine ushered him near the door.

"But sir," Will said. "What about Isaiah? And, is there any news about Vexx--"

"Isaiah will be picked up by Azkaban officers for endangerment of the school, I'm afraid…."

"Sir--"

Before he knew it he had been pushed through the door, his arms going in and out of numbness. The last thing he saw was Isaiah, still lying peacefully in the sand.

Chapter 16 - Aftermath

The three boys sat in the dormitory after the welcoming feast against the fire, the smell of home and the night sky being their companions in the small room. Will had told both Dylan and Dakota about his confrontation with the Minotaur and everything Fontaine had said, including the information regarding the cultist.

"Fontaine thinks that he's real? And that he's in the castle, hiding somewhere?" Dakota said, sitting up on the couch.

"That's what he said," Will replied.

"And Isaiah's working for him?" Dylan chimed in, petting his snake on his shoulders.

"Yeah."

The three sat in silence for a moment, collecting their thoughts, until:

"You're scared, aren't you?" Dakota blurted out.

"No." Will replied. "No, I'm not scared anymore. If this is how it's got to be, then okay…"

Will looked over at his end table where the book of 'The Hall of Prophecies' lay.

"How're you guys?" He said, changing the subject. After what happened last term--"

Dakota gave a glance to Dylan who had stayed silent.

"We're fine. Christmas was good too… Anything about Vexx?" Dakota said.

Will shook his head.

"The whole school heard about that fight with the Minotaur. They're practically praising you now." Dakota said, smiling.

Will chuckled a bit too boastfully.

"Just a few weeks ago they were calling me a 'Headmaster's Pet.'"

"Welcome to public school."

It was obvious that they all weren't the cheeriest, as the school had seemingly become a horror nightmare over just a week. They agreed to head off to bed, bolting the dorm door like they were told to do by Phemus, and getting snug in bed.

Will couldn't sleep well that night. He lay in bed with Brody curled up asleep between his legs.

What he had seen, that horrible sight of Isaiah. What man would do that to a kid?

To Will, it seemed like a man of pure evil intentions. A man of insanity and wrath. A man that were in the castle with them, creeping. A man that William Johnson, Minotaur Battler, didn't even want to meet.

They woke up the next morning, donning their respective robes before heading upstairs to the cramped dining hall as usual. They walked through, attempting to find a free chair or three, as kids called out comments towards them:

"Wow, Will! You fought that Minotaur?! But you're just a first-year!"

"Isn't that the guy that Professor Vexx…"

"A Minotaur. Wow! A freaking Minotaur…"

Will sat down near one of the crowded tables nearest the double doors, more flustered than Dylan. As he reached for some milk, his eyes caught a glimpse of Trystan, who was reading a copy of 'The New York Ghost', his signature scarf wrapped across his tan face.

"Hey, Trystan?" Will said over the loud talking in the hall. Trystan looked up, his black eyebrows raised.

"Yes, Minotaur Battler?"

"Do you mind if I take a look at that?" Will said, nodding his head towards the newspaper.

Trystan nodded back and passed the yellowed paper to Will. "Wow, Will! You never told me that you could fight Minotaurs! You're amazing!"

"It was cool, I know. Thanks, Trystan."

The three of them looked upon it.

Sure enough, there it was in black and white:

Ilvermorny Student, Isaiah Harris, 14, was illegally cursed by an unknown suspect and transfigured into a rampaging Minotaur species-- The creature was let loose upon the school castle during Christmas, attacking another student, William Johnson, 11, and wrecking property and endangering lives of other students in the process. Mr. Harris has since been to trial and sentenced to life in Azkaban by President Samuel Quahog.

Will felt nauseous. The whole Wizarding world knew now about what had happened, and Will felt immediately to blame for Isaiah's punishment. It wasn't Isaiah's fault, he hadn't deserved to go to this prison… At least he was being praised. Something he particularly liked.

Will had barely touched any of his food by the time Fontaine spoke up from the high table:

"Attention, Ilvermorny," He said. "Welcome to the second semester of your school year. I do hope you have excelled in all your classes…I also trust that you all know of the situation that had occurred over Christmas Break."

The hall erupted into soft murmurs and gasps, but Fontaine spoke again, in turn making the whispers cease.

"It is in our deepest regret, that we must say farewell to our own Isaiah Harris. The boy was wrongfully cursed and now pays the ultimate price in Azkaban. However," He continued, eyeing Will. "This does not relieve Ilvermorny from lockdown. I have every right to believe that the individual that cursed Mr. Harris, lurk in hiding, somewhere, in the castle, with no intention except true ambivalence."

The murmurs that broke out again were louder, more frantic and panicked.

Will, Dakota, and Dylan looked at one another, and then at the hall.

Wyatt look disgruntled; as if he were jealous he hadn't done that himself.

Trystan looked completely normal, casually flipping a page of his newspaper.

"In turn, all dorms will be bolted before bed as usual, teachers will escort students to classes personally, and the front gates should be locked at all times. Any student that wishes to leave for home shall only ask me or Mrs. Blackwood to lower the protective enchantments." Fontaine said. "Now. All report to your classes immediately."

The hall then uttered fearful chattering and shrieks, with the ocean of students piling out the doors and being led to their classrooms. Will, Dakota, and Dylan did the same, heading to Transfiguration.

"Fontaine seems a lot less cheery than usual, huh?" Dakota retorted as they made their way up the long steps.

"Yeah. All the stuff that happened, and Vexx…" Will trailed off, catching Dylan's deathly glare.

"Who do you think's gonna be the new Defense teacher?" Dakota asked.

"I don't know, anything's better than what we had…"

"You don't think Vexx hasn't left-- do you?"

"No, no that couldn't be."

They all sat in the animal filled classroom, the morning sun breaking through the small windows in the cozy, desk-filled room.

"Now. Who can tell me what 'Conjuration' is? Anyone?" Wamsley said, scratching his beard and pacing around the students. Dakota's hand almost touched the room ceiling it shot up so fast.

"Dakota?"

"'Conjuration', is one of the most difficult branches of Transfiguration, it requires precise wand movements to perform and allows the caster to transfigure an object from thin air." He explained confidently, having a bright smile on his face when Wamsley said:

"Fantastic!"

The class rolled their eyes as per usual.

"Now, I want to perform a bit of this--"

"But sir," Abby Arrington spoke up from across the room. "We're not supposed to use Configuration spells until fourth-year…"

"Right you are, Mrs. Arrington, but I feel as if you all deserve a bit of a taste." Wamsley looked directly at Will, then grunted as he pushed his desk back to clear a space in the middle of the room. "Now, when I call your name, you will step up and we'll practice one of the most simple Conjuration spells I know."

The class gave each other nervous glances, and Dakota was starting to sweat profusely.

"Abby!" Wamsley said, and with that, the girl got up, her usual rosy cheeks mixing with her flustered face. She stepped into the middle of the room and Wamsley stepped up beside her.

"I want you to try: 'Aguamenti.'"

She nodded nervously.

"Oh, and don't worry about the mess it'll make," Wamsley said. "We'll dry it up-- just hope it doesn't sink down below us, hate to rile up wet Pukwudgies…"

The girl pointed her wand at the wooden bucket Wamsley had placed in front of her, and nervously said:

"Aguamenti!"

But nothing happened. Then she tried again:

"Aguamenti!"

This time, only what looked to be a few weak water drops slid off her wand, hitting the stone floor with small splashes.

"Oh that's just fine," Wamsley said cheerfully as Abby returned to her desk. "We'll get there! Wyatt!"

Wyatt went up and attempted the same thing, but he too was not able, as he said "Aquamenti." This didn't surprise the class nor Will, in fact, it made the three of them have to hold loud chuckles in their mouths in order for him not to hear.

Soon, it was Dakota's turn.

"Alright Dakota, the incantation is 'Aguamenti'. Go ahead whenever you're ready," Wamsley said as he moved out of Dakota's way.

Dakota did not even hesitate. He pointed his wand at the bucket and said: "Aguamenti!" And a small stream of clear water spilt from the tip of his wand into the bucket, filling it half-full.

Dylan did the same, the stream of water bursting and knocking over the bucket and spraying water on the nearby students.

"Will?"

Will looked up, he hadn't been paying too much attention.

"Come on up."

He got up and walked to the center of the room. "Alright, Will. It's 'Aguamenti'." Wamsley said, pointing to the wooden bucket filled with overflowing water.

Will nodded.

He held out his wand, pointed it at the bucket and said:

"Aguamenti!"

Just then, a moderated line of water erupted from Will's wand, acting a fire hose of sorts, spraying it into the already liquid-filled bucket.

"Very good! Very good!" Wamsley erupted, patting Will on the back.

Will then returned to his desk, plopping back down, receiving a glare from Wyatt.

"Well," Wamsley stated. "I do believe that is all we have time for today. Tomorrow we'll continue back to our regular transfigure lessons. I'll see you all next class!"

The class all left their seats and filed out the room messily.

Will, Dakota and Dylan all walked down to the dungeons of the Dark Arts classroom, all of them nervous of what the new teacher was going to be. On the way, Wyatt quite purposefully rammed his shoulder against Will's, saying:

"Thanks to you, Isaiah's in jail, the field's half-destroyed, and Quadpot's cancelled for the rest of the year."

"If you haven't noticed," Will bit back quickly. "This wasn't anybody's fault except this evil guy in the castle. And to be perfectly honest, I'm hoping he comes after you first. Excuse me."

Will looked straight forward and walked along quickly past him, Dylan and Dakota giving glares to Wyatt along the way, as well.

After making it down to the dungeons, they all three entered the underwater classroom, taking seats near the back of the class and awaiting anxiously.

Dylan tried hard not to show it, but Will could tell by the tapping of his fingers on the desk that he was anxious. They must've waited a while, as a few Pukwudgies near the front had face-planted into the tables, fast asleep.

After a few more minutes, the class heard footsteps approaching the door, and as they got closer and closer, Will's stomach knot had started to tighten. Then, a billowing yellow cloak slid through the dungeon doorway, and to Will's draining hope, a pair of hauntingly grey eyes, and a bright, disgusting yellow grin followed from it.

The class did not say anything, they were too petrified to open their mouths; they merely looked at the tall man as if they had just seen some cute innocent creature suddenly turn inconsolably evil.

He did not say anything as well. He walked slowly through the noiseless dungeon, spinning slowly around his desk, and taking a seat at his desk, his gaunt eyes never leaving the class of students. The only audible thing they could hear were the oceanic sounds coming from the vast, blue depths coming from the outside the window. Even though the man's smile, he showed a face of obvious nervousness, and before Will even knew it, he spoke, completely out of turn and out of choice:

"What are you doing here?" Will said regrettably.

The class turned heads toward him, giving him looks as if he were clinically insane. But Will did not care. He looked dead into the eyes of Vexx, who now showed no emotion…

"The deemed the accusations… false." He rasped.

The hissing sound Will had not heard for so long made him wince subtly.

"Fontaine asked me to come back. So I did."

Will did not respond, he only glanced sideways towards Dylan, who was now sweating from his temples, still having an unchanged stone face, and Dakota simply lay his head down on his desk, buried in his cloaked arms.

They did no lessons in class that day. Vexx simply told them to read chapters twenty through thirty in their 'Uses of Poison Herbs and Hedges' textbooks, and then went into the back room, never appearing again.

The three of them wasted no time. They headed to the dining hall as fast as they could, planning to ask why on Earth Vexx was still in the school.

They practically sprinted towards the hall, and just before they went through the double doors, they ran into Fontaine, who was leaving.

"Professor!" Dakota said, jogging up to the man.

Fontaine merely raised his bushy eyebrows.

"Why-why is Vexx still here!?" Will blurted out, unknowing of how rude he sounded.

Fontaine stayed silent for a moment, looking upon the three of them all, squinting. Then he sighed.

"They deemed him clear of all charges." He said wearily.

"That's a lie!" Dylan snapped. "You can't be let off from use of an Unforgivable Curse, there's no way."

Fontaine did not snap back, he did not grow angry, he only merely said:

"Professor Vexx is here to stay. I cannot say how he was able to be unguilty in this situation, but I must urge you to understand that his actions will never, as long as I am in charge, ever happen again. You are all safe here."

The three of them did not answer. They simply turned on their heels, and walked back to their dormitory, never turning back to look at the Headmaster.

So they sat in the fire-lit room, each of them feeling betrayed…

"Why? Why in the world would Fontaine let Vexx back in the castle? He's evil!" Dakota spurted, flipping through bookshelves. "I've searched every book on MACUSA's laws and I found no loophole!"

Will ignored him. He sat perplexed on the couch, thinking of what would make the Headmaster do such a thing. He seemed so wise…

"Guys."

The two boys turned heads towards Dylan, who had spoken up from on the bed.

"I'm not happy about this either," He said as his snake slithered on his bed post. "But; maybe we should just trust Fontaine."

Dakota delivered a confused look, and Will ran his fingers through his hair.

"I get it," Dylan continued. "You guys are worried about what he did to me. But… it was voluntary. And, I trust Fontaine. We need to let this go. All of us, Will especially, has got enough on his plate. It's doing us no good dwelling on this."

Will stayed silent for a moment, and then:

"Dylan, what he did to you was cruel, and he hurt you--"

"I know what he did, okay?"

"So why are you telling me not to worry? You're my friend."

"And I'm your friend too. Which is why we need to drop this so we can focus on what matters. The follower."

"Dylan--" Dakota said.

"No. I'm serious. Fontaine hasn't been wrong yet, so let's just trust him and try to finish out first year without getting killed, okay?" Dylan finished impatiently.

Will thought about it for a good few minutes, turning to Dakota who showed a look of solemn and acceptance. Then he turned to Dylan, and said:

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

Will nodded.

"Dylan-- I think that might've been the most heartfelt thing you've ever said." Dakota chuckled, heading up off the floor and delivering a hug to his brother.

"Group hug!" Will shouted, and he leaped upon the two boys and embracing them both.

Chapter 17 - Encounter

The weeks after went surprisingly well. Will's classes went and went, struggling with the hefty homework set upon him. Defense Against the Dark Arts was a class that shifted dramatically, Will did not dare talk to Vexx, and heeded Dylan's advice, not worrying about the teacher and silently doing his work in the back of the class.

There was also no word from Fontaine about the supposed cultist. Their weekly meetings had ceased since Will questioned him about Vexx, and Will was pretty much left in the dark for the whole of the term. Will had chosen not to worry, wanting to enjoy the rest of the school year in peace.

The Minotaur news had gone stale, not many people were talking about it now, and truthfully Will was bit disappointed as selfish as it seemed.

So, there he sat, nearly the last day of school, in the Potions classroom, the afternoon sun creeping through the trees in the high-up classroom, nearly dozing off at Blackwood's lecture about 'Essence of Batpel'.

"Now can anyone tell me, what Batpel potion is?" She said in a shrill voice.

Before Dakota could shoot up his hand like usual, Fontaine appeared through the doorway near the window.

"Excuse me, Professor Blackwood," He said politely, poking only his head through. "I was wondering if I could borrow Mr. Johnson for a moment, please."

She looked at him with a hard glare, rolled her eyes and nodded stiffly.

Will stood up and walked out of the room, looking back to Dakota and Dylan, who nodded swiftly.

"Professor, where are we going? To your office?" Will asked as they fast-walked down the stone corridor.

"No. No, MACUSA just notified me."

"About what?"

"He's back. He's definitely back."

"Who? The follower?"

Fontaine nodded gravely, his long beard dragging behind him.

"But--" Will stuttered. He couldn't think and his throat began to dry. "Where is he??"

"Your home."

The two of them walked along the path, stricken with worry into the circular hallway.

"We must hurry. Your parents are in danger." Fontaine said, pulling his large, purple hat off of his head and setting it on the ground. He seemed worried too, a mood in which Will had never seen him before. Will was shaking feverishly now, and he could now hear his heart beating harshly against his rib cage.

"Grab it. It'll take us there."

Will did not argue.

He grabbed the hat and felt that same familiar feeling that he had witnessed again.

A hook behind his navel jerked irresistibly forward, and his feet left the ground, then he was speeding forward in tornado of color, Fontaine alongside him.

Will felt himself hit a large patch of dewy greenery, and he hit it with an ankle-shattering landing, surprisingly staying on his feet. He looked around, slightly dazed, at 205 Primrose Road, his home which was illuminated by the lamp-lit living room shining from the windows.

It was nighttime, and Will could barely see anything. Fontaine had not appeared beside him, and this made Will shudder. Where was he? Why did he leave? Did he do something wrong?

He stopped contemplating. He set off for the front door in hopes that his parents were in there and safe from trouble. He tried opening the door, but it was locked. He tried knocking, but no answer came.

"Dad!" He screamed. He peered into the window of the door and saw that the living room was completely empty.

"Mom!"

Knock.

"Are you guys okay!?"

Knock Knock.

He tried more, punching the wooden door as hard his body would let him, and his knuckles becoming a dark red color by the end of it. Suddenly the door opened.

"Will!" His dad stepped out as fast as he could and hugged his son tight, pushing the breath out of Will's lungs.

"Dad, I'm scared. What's going on?" He asked as his father let go of him.

"Where's Fontaine?" His father asked, ignoring Will and looking out into the dark, empty yard.

"I don't know. He wasn't with me when I landed…"

"Let's go. Out here with your mother."

His father led him out into the yard and ducked him behind a nearby tree, only to find his mother, her face wet with tears and her hair frizzy and ungroomed.

She made a soft whimper and again, tightly embraced Will. He could feel one of her tears hit his shoulder.

"What's happening? Fontaine told me that he was back-- Where is he?" Will demanded, looking back and forth between his parents.

"He's," His father's voice shook. "He's in the house. He's coming now."

His mother buried her face into his shoulder, sobbing.

"Listen to me, Will. You stay here. I don't know why Fontaine sent you, but you do not intervene. You and your mother stay and hide. It's going to be fine."

He paused a moment.

"Will, it's going to be okay. I'm with you."

He gave one last nod to the both of them, and turned away, walking into the empty yard. Will dare not speak. He stayed behind the tree, only the soft howling of the wind through the leafless trees and his mother's soft whimpering keeping him company. He was petrified. He had never seen his parents in such a state…

He heard the wooden front door creak open. Soft footsteps were heard coming down the porch steps. A very lanky man stepped down from the patio. He was abnormally skinny; and his robes hung on his boney exterior baggily. He had neat, side-swept dark blonde hair, with a pair of huge, grey oceans for eyes beneath it, and his bushy eyebrows were befitted in a way to where they gave him a permanently wild and surprised look.

"Hey there, Matty." He said in a rather calm tone. His voice sounded perfectly normal, nothing sounded 'crazy' to Will, who was peeking out from the tree. He attempted to quiet his rapid breaths before the man spoke again.

"Not trying to run from me, are you?"

"N-No." His father stuttered. Will saw him visibly shake.

The man chuckled.

"C'mon, Matty. Where's your boy?"

Will's heart skipped a beat.

"He's not here." His father said.

"You're lying." The man said, smiling. "I don't care much for liars."

His father stood his ground.

"You're not getting to him."

The man delivered a squinting smirk.

"Look. I know he's here. Just make this easier and tell me. You guys don't have to die. Only he does."

"Don't you dare talk about my son like that." His father said sternly.

"Don't you dare threaten me. Matty." The man rasped. "Perhaps, we just need a little bit of… bait."

The lanky man flicked his own wand towards the tree Will was standing behind, and felt his mother's fingernails leave his skin and soar into the man's arms, while she screamed and pleaded as loud as she could. He took her under his arms and made her hostage.

His father gasped.

Will had chosen not to think. He did not think about how much danger his parents were put upon, and he leaped from the tree, and screamed:

"NO!"

All of their heads turned to him, his mother stifling her cries and glaring at him with her welt up eyes.

"Well, well, well. Guess your boy's a bigger idiot than I thought, Matty." The man rasped. "Now we can get to business."

"No, Warren. Please. Don't do this… he's just a boy…" His father pleaded, his voice wavering from sadness.

"I told you not to take this personally. I told you that. It's just one, tiny, itty, bitty thing I gotta do." Warren said as he still held Will's mother in his arms. He turned to Will and spoke to him, condensing. "It doesn't hurt, buddy. I promise. Two seconds and," -he snapped his fingers- "pop."

Will stayed petrified and frozen. Too scared to move, to scared to draw his wand, and before he could, his father had drew his, pointed it at Warren to Will's relief but before his father could say anything Warren shouted:

"Avada Kedavra!"

Then a massive green light illuminated the cold yard, and a swooping sound filled Will's ears, and then his father tumbled backwards, falling on his back, unmoving and cold, but unmistakably dead.

Will dropped to his knees on the cold grass. His mouth was gaping and he stared in shock, in sadness, in wrath. He could not make his body move, he could not build up tears. He tried to scream and to yell, but the sound never came from his throat, he simply looked on in shock, back and forth between his father's body and Warren's amusing laughter and his mother's undying screams of agony. He heard Warren say:

"I just ask one favor from a guy… and he doesn't wanna cooperate!"

Warren turned to Will, and flicked his wand.

Will felt him self he dragged by some invisible rope, flying a few feet in the air and landing harshly in front of Warren.

"Alright you disgusting Mudblood, you're not why I'm here." He hissed, and then he threw his mother in the ground with no care. She was still crying and stayed still in the dirt.

He turned towards Will and knelt down.

"Two seconds, pal. That's all. It's just gotta happen. No hard feelings, okay?"

Will saw him rise up and raise his wand.

Will uttered something so barely audible he was surprised Warren heard him.

"...W-who…"

"What's that, bud?" He said, kneeling back down.

"W-who… who are-- you?"

"Oh. You're dad never told you about me? Well, the names Warren Duffey, and sadly, I have to kill you now."

"W-why?"

"Oh, Merlin's beard kid--" Warren rolled his eyes and shifted impatiently. "Because fate says so. Believe me, I've already tried plenty of times already. If you're dead, then I can just go on ahead and make the wizarding world better. It's a small sacrifice, okay? You understand."

Will stood up now, tears draining from his irises and his legs converting to jelly.

"You're the one that cursed Isaiah…"

"Bravo, Will. He was a reluctant brat, refused to kill you. He snuck out the dorm every night, just far away enough so he couldn't get to you. Shame he had to face all those torture curses. I'd ask your dad to give you a hand on those excellent sleuthing skills but…"

"You're the one that set the Entrapment Orb…"

"A bit dramatic on my part, I do have a taste for theatrics." He retorted, crossing his arms.

Will's mourning was soon turning into anger.

"You're the one who murdered that wandmaker…"

"Oh yeah, it's a shame that the last wand he ever sold was that pitiful old thing…" Warren said pointing to Will's already drawn wand. "But, I had to find out where you went, didn't I?"

Will was breathing hard now, and his face was flushed with white rage. This man whom he had never seen before had been ruining his life. He hurt people, he killed people, and his father… the way Warren acted so confident disgusted Will to no end.

"Now. Is story time over? I've got stuff I've gotta do. So close your eyes, and count to ten…"

Warren raised his wand, pointed it towards Will, and as the words rolled of his tongue, he saw a body illuminate against the bright green light that erupted. Will ducked his head to his knees and when he opened up his eyes…

He saw his mother who had leapt in front of him, staring back, her lifeless blue eyes now full of unmoving tears and her motionless figure flat against the dark, cold grass of the yard.

Will could not think. His mind could not function, it was shut down. This had brought him to his breaking point. He got up as fast as he could, alone and isolated, staring at Warren with utter hatred and rage, his blood flowing with heat, and his mind pulsing against his temples.

"Aw, look what you made me do, kid!" Warren chuckled. "Your mom too. Tsk. Tsk. You're just making me hurt everyone, aren't you?"

Will stood silent. The sound of nothing but the sound of the harsh Spring winds and the crickets in the distance filling their ears.

"You're alone." Warren said, breaking the despairing silence. "All alone. Nowhere to go. No one to save you."

Will did not speak.

"The Prophecy says that you will try and stop me. It says that I will strike you down when the time is right, and it seems as if you're a bit frightened to do anything to stop me, bud." Warren continued confidently.

"That's because I'm waiting."

"What?"

Will ignored him.

"Mom…"

He looked down at his mother, her eyes still peeled open and her body lifeless.

"Dad…"

He turned behind him to his father, whose figure remained quite still in the grass, his cap knocked off the top of his head.

"Answer me, boy." Warren spat.

"Give them a minute."

"What are you talking about--"

"Expelliarmus!"

A blinding shot of red erupted from along the way, inches from Will's shoulder and knocking Warren's wand from his hands and into the dark dirt.

Two friendly faces appeared from the darkness, Dylan and Dakota took their places beside Will and raised their wands towards Warren. Will did the same.

Warren merely chuckled.

"You-- you brought more people for me to ruthlessly murder?" He laughed.

"These are my friends."

"Well your friends can die too, y'know."

Warren held out his hand and his wand sailed back into his pale fingers. He raised it towards the three children.

"I will not be triumphed by a couple of toddlers."

"Now!" Will shouted.

All three of them screamed "Petrificus Totalus!", whilst Warren had shouted "Avada Kedavra!".

Will saw out of the corner of his eye that Dylan had slid back a few feet from the force of his wand, but stayed determined.

The three beams of glittery, bright purple collided harshly with the beam of green, intertwining with shots of sparks and flickers of orange. It was as if they had created a multi-colored rope that connected the four of them together.

Warren's eyes were wild; full of chaos and barely visible through the great jets of sparkling gold from which the spells met, but--

Will was not scared anymore. He kept his wand straight and stiffened. The lightshow was draining, and it felt as if a six-hundred ton locomotive was pushing at full speed against him; his feet were sliding along the ground from the force. But he knew that Dylan and Dakota were there for him, and that fact alone made Will mush further.

Over the ear-bursting noises, he heard Warren shout:

"A mere Jinxing spell won't get rid of me! Just give up and we'll all get the inevitable over with!"

Will did not listen, but he was dwindling.

He was weak. His legs were shaking like they had been converted into thick jelly. His thin arm grew weaker and weaker, nearly going limp from the force that was growing upon it. His nose was bleeding now, the thick drops of red liquid collapsing onto the dark green of grass below him, and his trickles of sweat that had formed on his temple were rapidly hopping from his chin.

His wand was pointed straight, it's great purple beam illuminating the yard, colliding with the same type of beam of green, that came from the opposite direction. He was struggling, his body wavering and quivering under the green beam's immense power, and his mind completely focused on beating it.

The man who had just broken his world made Will gush with power, with rage, with determination.

Then, with his final effort, he mushed all his strength into his wand, his stomach churning with pain, and watched as the purple beam started pulsing bigger, and he was winning.

The three colors of purple were slowly coloring the tethered rope of magic, the bright green fading from existence, before--"AGH!"

Warren's wand was knocked from his hand once again, landing in a nearby bush.

"How dare you!"

But he was not looking at the three boys who had collapsed in the grass, exhausted, but instead looked behind them, in which Fontaine stood, his hand behind his back and his black, curly beard flowing in the wind.

"Son…" He said gravely, his green eyes becoming silky.

However, Warren ignored Fontaine's words. He simply gathered his wand and said:

"We will meet again, Willy J. When he is not here."

Then, in a bizarre performance, he whisked away in a blur of twirling limbs and clothing, leaving the four of them alone in the dead of night.

"Will…" Dakota whimpered, out of breath.

Will had already gone to his father's side, ignoring his deathly battle and balling over his parents corpse. The two people who he had loved, who took care of him, who never left his side, taken from him by a man with no remorse. Only his own agenda. He was a mix between fuelling anger and inconsolable sadness, with no shoulder left to cry on, until he felt a warm hand grasp his arm.

"Will," Fontaine whispered to him. "It's okay, my boy."

He was left with no other choice. He embraced the Headmaster with full force, his eyelids bursting with wet tears.

"It's okay-- It's okay."

Dakota and Dylan knelt down beside him too.

"We're here for you."

"All the way."

The four of them formed a close-knit circle, with Will unable to stop his grief. He felt not embarrassed, not flustered, but comforted. A feeling that was very welcome at that moment.

"Sir…" Will uttered after drying his tears.

The Headmaster's bushy eyebrows raised.

"Why did he take them? Why me?"

Fontaine sighed and then said:

"What he told you was no lie. You are the obstacle in his plans. You've been singled out…"

"But, that's… that's not fair…"

"I know…"

"And my family…"

"I know, my dear boy," Fontaine said, his green eyes twinkling and his face full of stricken grief. "But you need only remember that family, is full of high notes and many low notes, but always, always, a beautiful song."

Will cried deeply.

Fontaine spoke again.

"Be brave, young one. This is only the beginning."

The End.


End file.
